Mashed Potatoes and Wedding Cakes
by Curlscat
Summary: Sequel to How We Got Here. The Epilogue Challenge and The Mashed Potato Challenge, set the day before Sabrina and Puck's wedding. Now includes the Element Challenge, CGreene's Challenges and 8/25 of one song challenge. Semi-Complete. Pre-Eight. Edited.
1. Discovery

**AN~ Part of my early attempt to do ALL THE CHALLENGES in the SG fandom. Written before books eight and nine, so it does NOT follow their plotlines. It does follow the plot of my other fic "How We Got Here," though, so you might want to read that first. Formerly chapter two, but it made more sense to put this in chronological order.**

**Requirements for this challenge: Rated T or below, not in Sabrina or Puck's POV, about the family finding out they're secretly dating, and creatively written. Emily Da Strange said hers needs to include the elements Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Metal, Light, Darkness, Happiness, and Sadness.**

**Disclaimer: Plots are challenges. Characters are mostly MB's, but about half of them are OCs of mine.**

**CHANGE LOG, moved from end AN, as promised:**

Chapter 1 edited and moved so that it is chapter two to make this story somewhat chronological.

Chapter 2 edited and moved so that it is chapter one for the same reason.

Chapter 3 edited, cut in half.

Chapter 4 edited, added to chapter three.

Chapter 5 edited, added to chapter three.

Chapter 6 edited, moved to chapter 4, along with the back half of chapter 3.

Chapter 7 edited, turned into chapter 5.

Chapter 8 edited, turned into chapter 6.

Chapter 9 edited, tuned into chapter 7.

Chapter 10 edited, turned into chapter 8.

Chapter 11 edited, added to chapter 8.

Chapter 12 edited, turned into chapter 9.

Chapter 13 edited, added to chapter 9.

Chapter 14 edited, turned into chapter 10.

Chapter 15 edited, turned into chapter 11.

Chapter 16 divided in half. Front end added to chapter 11. Back half edited, turned into chapter 12.

Chapter 17 edited, added to chapter 12.

* * *

Basil sighed, sliding further down the couch as he watched Red play some video game or other. This one was about some light elves fighting these dark elves, who looked a lot like dwarves to him. The dwarf-elves used metal and earth to suck all the happiness out of everyone and 'fill the earth with sadness.' The elf-elves, on the other hand, used air, water, and fire to bring joy and happiness!

How could Red like that stuff? It was so corny!

After another fifteen minutes of watching her half-naked avatar run around beating up dwarves, Basil decided he'd had enough and stood up. Red didn't notice. He sighed again, deciding to go ask Puck to break the TV. He probably would. Sabrina had been complaining about Red too, and of course Puck would do anything for Sabrina.

"Puck?" Basil called quietly reaching his room.

There was no answer. He shrugged and walked further into the room- forest- whatever. Place where Puck slept. He'd been walking for some time before he heard muffled noises coming from off the path, and turned to follow them. When he reached the noises, he was dumbfounded to see that Puck and Sabrina were sitting on a rock together _holding hands_.

For a few minutes, Basil just stood there, blinking at his sister and foster brother. Then he very quietly backed away and left Puck's room. Once he was back in the house, he found Daphne and whispered the news in her ear.

"Are you _serious_?" she screeched. "And they didn't _tell _me?"

"I think this is _why_ they didn't tell you." Basil rolled his eyes.

"Tell her what?" Jake asked, walking in, followed by the rest of the family, who had been out shopping.

"That Puck and Sabrina are GOING OUT." Daphne said.

"Oh no they're not," Henry said. "I won't let them."

Veronica smiled a little and rolled her eyes. "Yes you will. You don't hate Puck nearly as much as you pretend to."

Granny grinned. "That's true. But I think we should go complain about the fact that they didn't tell us anything. What do you think, Old Friend?"

Mr. Canis raised an eyebrow. "I'll pass."

The group was just about to move on to swarm Puck and Sabrina when Red entered the kitchen. "What's going on?" she asked.

Basil put his head in his hands. He really needed Puck to break the TV.


	2. A Series of Unfortunate Events

**AN~ Formerly chapter one, moved so things are chronological.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Sisters Grimm, and the plots are pretty much challenges.  
**

* * *

Sabrina sat in the kitchen, baking her wedding cake. How crazy was that? Shouldn't someone _else_ bake the brides' cake? Probably, but no one else could. After seeing the price of wedding cakes (over a hundred dollars a _slice_), Sabrina and Puck had opted to make their own cake, and right now Daphne was out doing- SOMETHING, Sabrina didn't know what; Granny was getting a makeover for the wedding; Red was still playing Halo 3; Puck was being yelled at by Henry; and Veronica was putting the rest of the wedding together, so Sabrina was stuck baking her _own_ wedding cake, while Basil sat next to her and made unhelpful comments.

"Shut _up_, Basil," Sabrina complained, wiping frosting off her nose. "I wish I'd left you in the stupid Everafter book, you know that?"

"No you don't," Basil said cheerfully, getting up from the kitchen table and walking over to the refrigerator. "I'm your little brother and you love me."

"I'd love you more if you'd _help,_" Sabrina muttered. "What are you doing, by the way?"

"It's lunch time," Basil said simply, removing a spoonful of cold mashed potatoes from the tupperware jar crooked in his arm

"So you're eating a tub of cold mashed potatoes?"

"Pretty much," Basil said. "Why?"

"You're going to be fat, and then your girlfriend won't love you anymore," Sabrina said.

"Yes she will," Basil said. "I don't think she'd even notice right now, actually. She's barely looked up from that game since we bought the thing."

"Red's addicted to video games," Sabrina said. "You want me to ask Puck to break the TV?"

"Please?" Basil begged. "I've been meaning to ask him to. Where is everyone, by the way?"

"Granny's-" The door opened. "Back," Sabrina finished. "Mom and Dad are freaking, and Daphne's releasing her energy in a nonconstructive way. Puck's being freaked at. Hi Gran- _what _did you do to your hair?"

Basil's mouth dropped open. Both young Grimms stared at their grandmother.

"I dyed it," Granny said. "Do you like it? This is the color it used to be."

"Wow," Basil said, which just about summed the situation up.

"It's nice." Sabrina said. "It'll take some getting used to, though."

"Oh, it's just for the wedding, I'll let it go back to normal after that," Granny said airily. "_Liebling,_ would you go out and talk to Daphne for me? She's cutting down my favorite tree."

"Wow." Sabrina shook her head. "I'll go find out what's going on."

"Thank you- oh, you have frosting on you nose."

Sabrina left the house, wiping her face. Outside, Daphne was halfway through cutting down the red maple in the front lawn.

"What are you doing?" Sabrina asked.

"Cutting- down- this- tree," Daphne said, swinging as she spoke.

"I can see that," Sabrina said, walking closer. "Why?"

"It's blocking the sunlight in my room." Daphne said. "It's all dark and depressing in there now."

"Couldn't you just TRIM it, instead of cutting it down?" Sabrina asked "It's Granny's favorite."

"Good idea," Daphne said, realization dawning on her face. "I'll do that."

"Honestly." Sabrina shook her head. "You'd think _you_ were the blonde one, the way you act."

"It's not my fault," Daphne said, dropping the saw. "How's the cake coming?"

"How'd you know I was working on it?" Sabrina asked. "You left before I started."

"You have frosting on your nose," Daphne said.

Sabrina was starting to rub her nose again when the maple tree shuddered, leaned, and fell, rushing towards her. The last thing she saw was a giant branch falling towards her face.

* * *

Sabrina woke up a few hours later in a hospital with a giant headache. "Ow," she muttered.

"You're awake!" Puck grinned, kissing her on the forehead.

She winced. "What happened?"

"The tree Daphne was cutting down fell on your head and you had to get stitches."

Sabrina made a face, yawning. "Great. I'm going to have a gaping wound on my face tomorrow."

"Your mom was talking about that. She fixed it it so that your hair'll cover most of it, and the veil's in front of the rest."

Sabrina gasped and bolt upright. "_THE CAKE_!"

"Relax," Puck said, pushing her down. "The Old Lady finished it. It looks great. Do you want me to take you home so everyone can fuss over you, or would you rather stay here and relax overnight?"

"Stay with me?" Sabrina asked. "Oh, and Basil wants you to break the TV, or the game system or something..."

"Sure." Puck grinned. "I love you."

"Love you too." Sabrina smiled sleepily. "Looks like I might actually get my-" She yawned again, "My happy ending."


	3. Wedding Day

**AN~ CGreene put up two more challenges. I'm doing them. This is, first, half of the "If Elvis Could Talk" challenge, then the "Phobias" challenge (a very lazy version of it).  
**

**Theme this chapter: "Do You Believe in Magic" by Aly & AJ**

* * *

Daphne was bustling around, taking care of the last minute details for the wedding, which, right then, meant moving some of the magical items that had been left out into the attic. Elvis was, as usual, following her around and keeping her company. At the moment he had his nose in a hole in the bottom of the box she was preparing to take out of the kitchen.

"Elvis, stop that!" she said, nudging him away from her with her leg. "I have no clue what most of this stuff does, and if you make me drop something, there's no telling what might happen!"

Elvis moved his nose out of the bottom of the box, but he stayed very close to her and bumped her legs several times, and finally, she did drop a particularly large glass bottle on the floor. Elvis immediately slurped it up.

"_ELVIS_!" Daphne cried in exasperation.

"What?" Elvis said. "It smelled good."

Daphne jumped about a foot in the air. "Did you just talk?"

Elvis thought for a minute, cocking his head to one side. "I did, didn't I? Hm. I guess that's what the potion did." He gave a doggy shrug and walked off toward the attic. After a few seconds, he looked back at Daphne, who hadn't moved. "Well?" he asked. "Are you coming?"

Daphne blinked a few times, shook her head, then got up and followed him. "Listen," she said, "Could you maybe _not_ talk until the wedding's over? This is Sabrina and Puck's special day, and I don't want to steal the attention away from them with a talking dog. No offense."

"None taken," Elvis said. "And if you give me sausage, I'll hide until they leave for their honeymoon!"

"Ah... no," Daphne said. "But I _will_ give you bacon."

"Deal," Elvis said. "Now let's get that stuff away."

"Actually," Daphne said, "I think you've helped enough for one day. How about you go wait for your bacon?"

Elvis sighed but walked off back towards the kitchen he'd just come from.

* * *

Puck was sitting in the hallway of the hospital, reading a magazine and waiting for Sabrina. The magazine Puck had... ahem, borrowed from one of the doctors or something at the hospital read this:

**Mycophobia:** Fear or aversion to mushrooms.

**Phronemophobia:** Fear of thinking.

**Sesquipedalophobia:** Fear of long words.

**Xanthophobia:** Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow.

**Octophobia:** Fear of the figure 8.

**Myxophobia:**Fear of slime. (Blennophobia)

**Cacophobia:** Fear of ugliness.

**Didaskaleinophobia:** Fear of going to school.

**Angrophobia:** Fear of becoming angry.

**Autodysomophobia:** Fear of one that has a vile odor.

**Kathisophobia:** Fear of sitting down.

**Walloonphobia:** Fear of the Walloons.

Puck looked up from his magazine as Sabrina walked in the room. "Hey, craterface," he said, grinning at her. He was glad for a reason to put the article down. He was pretty sure most of the things in there were fake.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Shut up. I don't need you rubbing it in. What are you doing?"

"Being skeptical," Puck said. "You were taking forever to wake up, so I grabbed this thing. What's a walloon?"

"No idea." Sabrina sat down next to him on the couch. "Oh crap! The wedding's today!"

"Crap?" Puck asked. "I feel loved."

"You should." Sabrina pecked him on the cheek. "You must have been really bored. I mean, you're _reading_."

"I was. But I can't believe all these happen enough that they got names. I mean, how many people can be afraid of _sitting_?"

Sabrina leaned over and looked at Puck's notes. "Wow. Hey! You have that one!" She pointed.

"Frone-eh-mo-fo-bee-a? I do NOT!" Puck said, getting indignant once he'd sounded out the word for fear of thinking.

"Red has dides- didaslenao- that one." Sabrina pointed.

"The school one?" Puck asked. Then he grinned at her. She'd done a worse job of sounding that out than he had. "Not awake yet, are you?"

Sabrina shook her head in response and leaned against Puck's shoulder. Puck bent down and kissed her forehead with a small smile. At that moment, Daphne walked in.

"Cheese, guys, save it for this afternoon!" she said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, it's time to start getting you guys ready."

Sabrina made a face. "Spoilsport," she said, but she followed Daphne out to the car, holding Puck's hand the whole time. Once they reached home, Puck and Sabrina were dragged in opposite directions, and when they protested, Granny reminded them that it was bad luck for the bride to see the groom on the wedding day.

"That always struck me as backward," Sabrina said, submitting to being shoved into her room. "I mean, he's going to see me at the ceremony, right?"

"I think it means before the ceremony," Veronica said dryly. "Now put this on."

Sabrina made a face. "Am I going to hate this dress? I can't believe you didn't let me pick it out myself."

"If you had your way, you'd wear jeans and a white t-shirt," Red pointed out, coming into the room with a pair of shoes.

Sabrina glanced at the shoes as she slipped into the dress. They were old-looking white sandals with a slight heel. Not too hard to walk in, but still pretty. She was about to comment when she saw the reflection of her dress in the mirror. The skirt was floor length, made of something pure white and gauzy. The top half, however, while also white, was some sort off off the shoulder modern-looking thing trimmed with silver sparkles that matched the ones on the skirt and the shoes, which she slipped on while Daphne tied a bow on the back of her skirt.

"They were my wedding shoes," Veronica said, starting on Sabrina's hair. "You can have them. Oh, and shove this under your heel," she said, pulling a penny out of her pocket and handing it to Sabrina.

Sabrina complied. "So that whole blue-borrowed thing? What about that?"

"Bow on the veil is blue," Granny said, pulling out a silver necklace with diamonds and sapphires studded around an emerald heart. "and you can borrow this necklace."

Sabrina attempted to shut the clasp on the necklace, gave up, and let Red do it. Red, her job complete, headed for the living room. Sabrina rolled her eyes with a smile, then sat still so Veronica could finish her hair. Granny fussed with the veil and Veronica set about pulling out various makeup articles. She was about to start applying them to Sabrina's face when Sabrina stopped her.

"No makeup." Sabrina said. "Puck told me not to wear it."

"When?" Veronica asked skeptically.

"Last week," Sabrina said. "And plenty of other times between now and when I was eleven. Oh, by the way, what's a walloon?"

"Some group of French-Belgian people, or something..." Veronica said absently, packing the makeup away again. "Why?"

"How many people can be afraid enough of them to have a phobia made up for it?" Sabrina asked.

"There's seriously a walloonophobia?" Daphne asked, slipping into her own dress, a bright yellow minidress with sleeves that didn't appear to be attached to the gown and strategically placed white roses.

"You look like some avatar from one of Red's games," Sabrina said dryly. "All you need is a sword."

"Actually, Red inspired my dress. So did the theme of wanting to be able to wear these dresses some other time. None of them look anything alike."

Sabrina shook her head and started braiding yellow roses into Daphne's hair. "Whatever you say. I'm just getting married, Ms. Bridesmaid. Granny, can you go get Red?"

Granny left as Veronica pulled on her own dress, a strapless floor-length gown in purple with a long slit up the side. She brushed her own hair into a simple updo and wrapped a string of amethysts around it.

Granny returned with Red in tow. "Has anyone seen Titania or Goldie?"

"Ti's sulking about not being part of the procession and Goldie decided the church didn't look perfect." Veronica said absently, fussing a little with her hair.

"Well, we're still supposed to be dressing them, even if they're not part of the procession." Granny said. "Snow too, for that matter."

"I think Snow's getting them." Daphne said, pulling away from Sabrina to go get Red's dress, a deep red above-the-knee mess of ribbons that wound all over her arms, matching the high, strappy red heels that would go under it. She handed it to Red, then sat down to pull on her own heels, a pair of yellow pumps, also decorated with white roses.

Granny had already changed into her green ankle-length dress (covered in so much lace it should have looked ridiculous), and her green flat shoes when Snow appeared, pulling a noncompliant Goldie and a resigned Titania. The two of them were then shoved into orange and blue dresses and shoes of different lengths, respectively. Snow wore a somewhat toned-down classical princess gown in black that contrasted deliciously with her white skin.

Granny then pulled a sparkling green hairnet out of a box and glanced at the clock. "Where did the time go? We've only got half an hour before we have to be there!"

They finished up quickly and set off for the church. The ceremony went by in a haze for Sabrina, though she noticed several weird things that later struck her as odd things to notice, such as the fact that the men's ties matched their partner's dresses in color, that the minister was extremely tall, and that there was one person in the seats that kept staring at her in a way that creeped her out a bit. Then she was kissing Puck, and none of that mattered anymore.

* * *

The reception was amazing. Daphne had planned everything out perfectly, and it went off like clockwork, or, more likely, magic.

Sabrina's favorite part was the dancing. Normally she wasn't a big fan of dancing, but she'd rarely danced with Puck, and every time she did, no matter what the song was, it always made her heart beat a little faster.

Puck, of course, liked the cake best. He found the idea that he and Sabrina were supposed to feed each other ridiculous, and he had a lot of fun with it. He missed her mouth the first two times. Sabrina was pretty sure it was on purpose.

"So what are you doing for your honeymoon?" Snow asked during a break in the action.

Sabrina grinned. "We're pulling a Basil."

"What?" Charming gave her a blank look.

"You know how Granny and Grandpa Basil went on a world tour for their honeymoon? We're going to do the same thing. After all, it's not like either of us is likely to leave again, Puck especially."

"Good idea," Snow said. "Don't you think so, Billy?"

Charming nodded absently, glancing at the punch bowl. "I think I'll go get some more to drink. You want anything?"

Snow shook her head. "It was nice of your grandmother to let us out for our honeymoon, I don't see why he's upset."

"I'm guessing because he didn't think up a world tour for the two of you." Sabrina smiled.

"Anyplace in particular you want to see?" Snow asked, watching the other princesses spin around in a complicated dance.

"Well, there's Paris, and the Taj Mahal, and all those other famous places," Sabrina said. "And I want to find out what happened to the Jakob side of the Grimms. But in the U.S. I want to go back to Manhattan. I have unfinished business. And Alaska."

"Alaska?" Snow asked, sounding surprised.

Sabrina shrugged. "I've heard it's nice. And I had a few friends up there a while ago."

"Friends?" Snow asked.

"Orphanage," Sabrina said shortly. "My best friends there, actually."

Daphne, who was passing by at that moment, broke in, "That's what messed her up, was when they left. She was pretty good until then. Especially Jason."

Sabrina rolled her eyes at Snow's interested look. "He was my first boyfriend, I guess. But we were only together a day before Smirt messed things up. So it's not important."

Snow grinned. "Good. I'd hate to think you had an ulterior motive for visiting Alaska. Especially on your honeymoon."

Sabrina rolled her eyes, going off to find Puck as Charming returned.

"Dance with me?" she asked him when she found him. "I need to get away from the seventeen-years-old gossip."

"Which would be...?" Puck asked, leading Sabrina onto the dance floor.

"You remember the Jason story I told you?"

Puck nodded.

"Daphne brought it up around Snow."

"Ah," Puck said. "I didn't think you liked to talk about the orphanage."

"I don't," Sabrina said. "I've told you more than I've told anybody else."

"Which is still barely anything," Puck said, spinning her.

"You want to know?" Sabrina asked.

"Well, yeah, I mean, since we're going there tomorrow and all," Puck said. "And we're married now. I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand, but it's been over fifteen years, and you're still messed up. Did you ever think maybe if you talked about it, you might feel better?"

Sabrina smiled dryly. "No. I've spent most of my life trying to get away from it, to forget. It just didn't work."

"Why do you want to go back?" Puck asked.

"I want to rescue as many of those kids as possible. I know Daphne does, too. I don't want anyone else to go through what I did."

"Can I have that explanation yet?" Puck asked.

"Once we're on our way," Sabrina promised.

* * *

In the car to New York, Sabrina finally told Puck the whole story of the year and a half in the state foster system she and her sister had experienced. She told him about Ms. Smirt, who spent her time trying to make all the children under her care miserable, about Mr. Dennison, who beat her and his blood children until she ran away with the oldest and youngest of them, Mary and Laura; about the Keatons, who locked them in the basement for a week; about the Johnsons, who used them as punching bags for their boxer sons; about Mr. Drisco, who had a farm of evil ferrets; about the Hendersons, who used them as maid;, Mr. Jones, who had an evil tiger for a pet; Mr. Won, who sold dog meat in his restaurant; Ms. Longdon; Ms. Shedmeyer; Mr. Treeson and Mrs. Crassae, who were crazy; the Donovans, who only ate Sabrina's least favorite food; Mr. Mastro and the slug incident, which led to a betrayal by her former best friend; the Cattiwamans, who wanted someone to clean their septic system; Mr. Armstrong and his leaky roof; about Michelson and his gang, who got a kick out of torturing Sabrina and Daphne; and about her friends, all of whom were significantly older, and all of whom left her behind after their eighteenth birthdays.

When she finished her story, Puck sat back in astonishment.

"Wow," he said. "I had no idea you went through all that. I don't think I've been through as much as you have, and I'm in my thousands."

"I disagree," Sabrina said.

Puck grinned. "Well, it still explains why you were such a screwup when we first met."

Sabrina smacked him gently. "You weren't exactly the nicest person either."

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Puck grinned, kissing her on the cheek.

Sabrina turned her head so that his lips hit hers instead of her cheek, and she smiled into the kiss. They didn't talk very much for a while after that.

* * *

Mustardseed, in the front of the car, shook his head. _Newlyweds._

It was a little odd that, after hundreds of years of never dating Everafters, three Grimms in two generations had fallen for one. Even with Briar dead, that was still more Everafter/human relationships than had been in occurrence at one time since Jakob and Wilhelm's time. He wondered if it had anything to do with Daphne. She seemed to just sort of inspire other people's happiness without ever thinking about her own. Quite a selfless girl, that one.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he had a girlfriend already, he might consider...

But no, she was untouchable. The sister of his sister in law. And a very protective sister in law, at that.

Having heard Sabrina's story, he didn't blame her for being protective, though. He knew it was bad to eavesdrop, but he was a good secret keeper, and he was bored. There wasn't much else to do. Titania was too busy driving in a way that would keep her from being pulled over to make much conversation, and it was obvious he wasn't going to be invited to talk with the two in the back.

But now even that distraction was taken from him, as the sound in the back reduced to the noises made by kissing. He sighed and turned on the radio.

There was nothing good on.

At all.

_Seriously. _Mustardseed thought. _All this technology humans come up with... over a hundred stations, and nothing good on. What is wrong with civilization?_

He was fed up with it, so he decided the make-out session had to end.

"Would you two hold off until we get you to your hotel?" he asked impatiently.

The kissing noises abruptly ceased.

"Thank you," Mustardseed said, relieved. "You have the rest of your lives to kiss each other, but right now I'm bored out of my skull, and listening to you two is not helping."

"What do you want us to do?" Sabrina asked sarcastically.

Mustardseed got the feeling she wasn't happy with him at the moment.

"Entertain me," he joked.

Puck stared. "Did you just make a joke? I haven't heard you joke for _ages_. You're always so _serious_!"

"Well, _one_ of us had to be," Mustardseed said. "I just sort of... compensated."

Sabrina grinned. "Daphne and I did that. But we're old enough to be ourselves, not just to be what the other one wasn't. I think you guys are, too. Or at least Mustardseed. I kind of doubt Puck even knew this was happening."

"Probably not." Mustardseed grinned. "He's not very observant."

"Nope," Sabrina agreed. "It took him _years _to figure out that I loved him back."

* * *

"He's always been like that," Mustardseed said. "I think it's because he's so self-centered."

"Yeah, but he's gotten a bit better," Sabrina said. "Now he's sort of centered on me, too."

"Because you're completely selfless," Puck broke in sarcastically, deciding he'd had enough of the Puck-bashing fest.

"I never said I was," Sabrina said. "After all, it takes one to know one. I honestly think the only selfless ones in the family are Granny and Daphne."

"You're probably right about that," Puck agreed. "Especially not your dad."

"Don't get me started on him," Sabrina said.

"Is he still treating you like a kid?" Mustardseed asked.

"Yup," Sabrina said.

Puck rolled his eyes. "It's like ever since he woke up, he hasn't really been able to get that they can take care of themselves. I mean, he's gotten better since Sabrina's in her twenties and all, but for Daphne, and poor Basil..."

"Basil's got the worst of it," Sabrina agreed. "Dad's terrified that something's going to happen to him again, even though we haven't heard anything from the Scarlet Hand in ages."

"Your poor family," Mustardseed said. "It seems like you're doomed to _never_ get your happily ever after."

"We might," Sabrina said. "I mean, _I'm_ really close. I've got my family, my friends, my husband..." She kissed Puck again.

Mustardseed passed a hand over his face. "Not this again, please." He sighed. "We're almost there, wait just a little while."

Soon afterwards, they reached the Hotel, and Sabrina and Puck checked themselves in, promising Mustardseed and Titania to visit Faerie the next day and take care of all that kingly business that Puck had been putting off for years before they went to the orphanage. Then they went off to their hotel room for their first night alone together.


	4. Aftermath

**AN~ The end of Elvis' little talking challenge, and the next of the other chapter. No talking about the wedding night 'cause that's private.  
**

**Theme song this chapter: Love Game by Lady Gaga.**

* * *

After Sabrina and Puck were safely away, Daphne found Elvis, who had been hiding in the basement, and brought him to the living room, where she turned off the TV, much to Red's chagrin. "Guys," she said, "there's something I want to tell you about Elvis."

"Did he get sausage?" Basil asked immediately, from his position next to Red on the couch.

"No I did not, thank you very much!" Elvis growled.

"That's what I wanted to tell you," Daphne said. "He ate this potion this morning that made it so he could talk. So... Uncle Jake? You know anything about it?"

"It's permanent," Jake offered. "Not much else I can say."

"Well then," Relda said, "Any insights you'd like to make now that you can talk, Elvis?"

"Turn off the TV. For a long time. Honestly, you should just get rid of it," Elvis said. "Every time I go in the room when it's on, I can practically feel my brain melting."

"I second the motion!" Basil called.

Red pouted. "Not cool."

"I promise we'll help you through your addiction, sweetie," Veronica said. "Especially Basil, right dear?"

"Right. We'll do lots of stuff to distract you." He winked at Red, who smiled back at him hesitantly.

"Nothing _inappropriate_, right?" Henry asked.

"Sure dad, whatever," Basil said, leaving the room with Red in tow.

Daphne bent down to unplug the TV. "Anything else important?"

Elvis thought. "No more costumes, please. Dogs don't wear clothes. And when Puck gets back, I want to thank him for bathing more now. He hurt my nose."

"That's Sabrina's fault, actually," Mr. Canis said dryly. "And I agree with him on the costume thing, Relda."

Granny pouted, heading for the kitchen. "I like the costumes, they're cute!"

"They're embarrassing, and on top of that..." Elvis said following Granny out.

Jake sat down on the couch, laughing. "This is going to change _everything_."

* * *

Sabrina and Puck had a _very_ enjoyable night and a got a late start the next day, but they made it to the Golden Egg on time, just barely. Puck spent most of the morning trying to finalize Faerie's conversion to a democracy as fast as possible so that he could return to Sabrina. She spent her morning catching up with the Everafters she'd befriended last time she was in NYC, especially Hamstead and Bess, who were actually considering returning to Ferryport Landing.

They finally finished, and Puck found himself now the ex-king of Faerie. He didn't particularly mind. They said their goodbyes and headed off to the orphanage. On the way, they made a few stops that Sabrina had investigated before the wedding.

At the first stop, when Sabrina knocked on the door, it was opened by a woman in her mid-thirties. "Yes?"

"Mary?" Sabrina asked. "It's Sabrina. Sabrina Grimm."

"Sabrina?" the woman, who was apparently Mary, asked. "I didn't recognize you! How are you? Come inside! This is amazing!"

"Never thought you'd see me again?" Sabrina grinned, pulling Puck into the apartment after her. "How's Laura doing?"

"Laura's great! So am I!" Mary said. "Have a seat! Do you want anything to drink?"

Sabrina shook her head, but Puck accepted. They sat down on the green plaid couch in the living room to wait for Puck's drink.

"So, what's she up to these days?" Sabrina persisted.

"She just got out of college, she's looking for a job acting. How about you? And Daphne?"

"I'm a lawyer, but she's a private detective. Turns out it's a bit of a family thing. And I just got married- this is my husband, Puck." Sabrina gestured at Puck, stealing a sip of his soda.

"You could have gotten your own!" Puck protested, grabbing the drink back. "She offered!"

Mary glanced at Puck appraisingly. "If you're _ever_ mean to her, you're screwed, you know that? I'll find you if Sabrina calls, and you'll be so dead."

Sabrina laughed. "Don't worry. He's nothing like your dad. Not a lot like _any_ guy I know, actually." She smiled at Puck.

"You sure?" Mary said skeptically. "Sometimes you can't tell at first."

"I've known him for fifteen years, I'm pretty sure," Sabrina said.

Puck raised his eyebrows at Mary. "You're really attached to Sabrina, aren't you?"

"She convinced me to leave my dad's place," Mary said. "I'd do anything for her."

Sabrina smiled. "It's mutual."

"So, what are you doing in New York?" Mary asked.

"Sabrina has to deal with some stuff," Puck said. "So we're taking care of that. What do you do, Mary?"

"I'm a molecular biologist," Mary said.

"Told you she was smart," Sabrina said, smiling in response to Puck's stunned look.

They visited with Mary for a while, then moved on to the next pace Sabrina wanted to vistit.

A middle-aged man answered the door. "He- you look familiar."

"I should," Sabrina said. "That is, if you're the same Officer Brown I met when I was ten."

The man looked shocked. "S... Sally, no, Sabrina? Sabrina Grimm?"

Sabrina nodded. "I stopped by to thank you for what you did with my parent's case, and to ask you to do something about the state's cild care system, since I can't."

"I have been," Officer Brown said. "I've been trying to improve it ever since I saw it from the inside. You really left an impression on me, Sabrina."

"She has a tendency to do that," Puck said calmly.

"I got my parents back," Sabrina said. "Turns out they were kidnapped. I was wrong."

"Good," Officer Brown said. "I'm glad things worked out for you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get to work."

"Bye, then," Sabrina said. "Thanks for everything."

And they were off again. This time the door was opened by a pair of people, a man and a woman both in their early thirties. "Sabrina?" they both said at the same time.

Sabrina grinned, realizing, "_That's_ why I couldn't find Becca. I was looking for your _old_ last name. Got over Dare, did you, Tom?"

The man nodded. "Alaska was too far away, and Becca was closer. Besides, Becca's awesomer."

"I'll tell Dare you said that," Sabrina said dryly. "I'm sure she'll be pleased."

"What are you doing here?" Becca asked.

"I'm on my honeymoon, actually. This is Puck, my husband," Sabrina said. "And I had some loose ends to tie up. You keep in contact with any of the other loners?"

Becca nodded. "Why?"

"I'm planning a reunion in three years. I wanted to see a lot of them again. Call all the ones you can find, and tell them to call me."

"Three years is a long time, Sabrina," Tom said warily.

"I know. But it gives them time to catch up and prepare. And us to get home," Sabrina said. "All I ask is that they don't bring any lima beans."

Tom grinned. "Right. You want to stay a while?"

Puck shook his head. "We've got to head to some meeting thing she planned. Then we _finally _get to relax, right?"

Sabrina sighed. "Right. I mean, I _wanted_ to go to the orphanage today, but that's not going to happen."

"What meeting?" Bella asked.

"All the other orphans we used to know. I wanted to give Michelson what's coming to him. I was actually thinking about having one for my old foster parents, but I decided sternly worded letters would work better."

Tom laughed. "I never thought I'd see the day Sabrina Grimm opted _against_ violence."

"It's only been happening recently, trust me." Puck said dryly.

They left and headed for Sabrina's meeting. Puck complained about the lack of romantic time, and Sabrina promised him that, as soon as she was done with the orphanage, they'd spend as much time as he wanted together, just the two of them. After that, they were headed for a countrywide tour, which would probably take a while. Then they'd move on to Canada, and, finally, Alaska.

At the meeting, Sabrina smiled, thanked everyone for coming, then nodded to Puck. He grinned, pulled a lever, and made the ceiling rain green gloop on them.

"That, my enemies, is for making my life miserable when I was ten. Thanks again. Everyone but Mr. Michelson and Harold Dink may leave," Sabrina said firmly.

Harold and Michelson tried to sneak out, but the nametags Sabrina had forced on everyone allowed Puck to keep them from leaving.

When Sabrina saw Harold's head, she laughed her head off. "Still hasn't grown back, huh?"

Harold glared, rubbing his patchy red hair. "I thought this was your revenge for what I did."

"No, that was _Daphne's_ revenge," Sabrina said, "Mine is this," and she punched him in the gut. "Thanks for that. You might want to consider _not_ betraying people. You can go now." She smiled, and Harold walked out, still leaning forward to protect his stomach.

Michelson raised an eyebrow. "Whatcha got in store for me, princess?"

"Queen, actually," Sabrina said. "In name only, but whatever. I challenge you to a rematch. Arm wrestling. Now."

Michelson raised an eyebrow. "I'm slimy."

"So?" Sabrina asked. "Wipe your right arm off. Puck'll be our referee."

Michelson complied. They arm wrestled for a few minutes, and Sabrina sat there, looking completely calm, while Michelson strained to move her arm.

"What's your first name?" Sabrina asked. "I still don't know it."

"Michael," Michelson grunted.

Sabrina grinned, and shoved his arm down onto the table. "I win. You've gotten weaker."

"I'm a pro wrestler. Top five in the country." Michael said, rubbing his arm.

"Hm," Sabrina said. "I still can't beat him." She jerked her thumb at Puck. "Thanks for that. And, just so you know, I still don't like you. But that? That helped me. I'm a better person than you'll ever be, and you can't hurt me anymore. I win."

She walked out.

"That was impressive," Puck said, glancing back at the humiliated man.

Sabrina didn't turn. "I'm good at carrying grudges. I've actually been planning all this New York City stuff for ages. It just happened to coincide with out wedding. Sorry I haven't been the most romantic bride for our honeymoon."

Puck grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I didn't expect you to be. Besides, there's still time for dinner. What do you say? Dark place in Little Italy, candlelight, music, then back to the hotel for a while, playful banter, a little kissing..."

Sabrina laughed. "It sounds great. But I get to pick the restaurant."

"Did you want to stop and see those old friends of yours while we were here?" Puck asked on the way to the restaurant.

Sabrina grinned. "I did it this morning while you were busy. I don't ever want to see any of those people again, but I'm not mad at them anymore. Bess took me. Traveling by jet pack is very interesting, by the way."

"Is it as nice as being flown around by yours truly?"

Sabrina grinned. "Nope, Mr. Fragile Ego, you're still my favorite mode of air travel. Except half the time we get distracted and then we either make a wrong turn or we're late."

"Is it my fault you're so kissable?" Puck asked, making his point with a long, deep kiss.

They had their romantic dinner, and another wonderful night. They got an even later start the next day, but made it to the orphanage by noon.

"It looks the same as it did last time I was here," Sabrina said.

"You spent a year and a half in a place that looked like this?" Puck asked, glancing around. "This is seriously depressing. They need to invest in some paint!"

"Tell me about it," Sabrina said, turning to the receptionist. "May I speak to the head of the orphanage, please?"

"State your business," The receptionist said in an ominous voice.

Sabrina offered her most winning smile, elbowing Puck in the gut surreptitiously when he started to laugh at the receptionist. "I'm here to thank them for their wonderful care for the year and a half I was here. Also, I'd be interested in foster parenting sometime."

"Why?" the secretary said. "Who'd want one of those brats?"

"I would," Sabrina said hotly. "Remember, I used to be one, so I know how to handle them. And honestly, who _wouldn't_ be a brat, if they had to live with attitudes like yours, and foster parents who were only in it for the money? May I talk to the head, please?"

The orphanage nodded towards the door and pressed the buzzer. "Ma'am, there's a couple here to see you."

A voice crackled back through the intercom. "Very well, send them in."

Sabrina and Puck walked through the door, and Sabrina stopped short when she saw the woman sitting behind the head's desk. It was Ms. Smirt.

"Hello," Ms. Smirt said. "Have a seat."

Sabrina and Puck complied. Sabrina had to take a minute to remember that she didn't have to be afraid of the woman anymore. It was Smirt's turn to be afraid of her.


	5. Orphanage

**AN~ Theme song for this chapter: Thoughtless by Evanescence (No romance angle).**

* * *

"What?" Ms. Smirt asked shortly, looking up in irritation as Sabrina and Puck walked into her office.

"I think introductions are in order before that, don't you?" Sabrina asked, a fake-sweet smile on her face.

Ms. Smirt looked chastised, and she gave her own tight-lipped smile before saying, "Very well, I'm Minerva Smirt, and you are?"

"Sabrina and Puck Grimm," Sabrina said. "Remember me?"

Ms. Smirt gasped, then glared. "You always were a troublemaker. Back to make more?"

"Actually, I'm here to look into foster parenting. To show kids that not _all_ adults are evil." Sabrina smirked.

"You'd have to take a training course to do that," Ms. Smirt said tightly. "And there are forms, and-"

"Puck can fill those out. Would you do me the favor of mailing them here, too?" Sabrina slipped Ms. Smirt a piece of paper with the Grimm's address on it. "Meanwhile, you can show me around. I'd like to see the place again."

"You can't see the children yet, they're doing their community service," Ms. Smirt said, looking a little cowed by Sabrina's confident manner.

Puck received the forms and started filling them out, and Ms. Smirt led Sabrina away for her tour.

"Why are you back?" Ms. Smirt whispered.

Sabrina smiled that sickly sweet grin again. "Why, I had such a wonderful time here when I was younger, I wanted to relive the memories. I see you placed enough children to be promoted, finally."

"Actually, you and your sister were the last ones I needed, much as I hated to leave you with that unfit woman."

"That's what I don't get," Sabrina said conversationally, entering the kitchen and picking up one of the knives casually. "You put Daphne and me in so many awful homes, and the _one_ good place you put us, you tried to get us taken out of. Why?" She spun the knife on her fingertip.

Ms. Smirt looked warily at the spinning knife. "Ahm..."

"I mean, did you hate us? What did we do to deserve that? Yeah, we ran away, but the other places were _insane_!" On the last word, Sabrina threw the knife slightly to the right of Ms. Smirt's head, and it slammed into the wall next to her. She picked up another knife. "We were just trying to survive, and when I finally ended someplace where I was _happy_-" Another knife, this one to the left of Ms. Smirt's head- "You tried as hard as you could to get us away. What did we _ever_-" A third knife, this one above Smirt's head- "Do to you?"

"Itching powder in my bed, garbage under it, all those things you did to my clothing-"

"That wasn't _me_!" Sabrina said. "_Once_ it was Daphne. The rest of the time, I barely had anything to do with it. I don't prank. If I have an issue with someone, I take it out in the open. Do you have a better excuse? Think carefully." She was spinning a fourth knife on her finger.

Ms. Smirt thought. She sighed. "You _had_ family. My son disappeared. I entered the business to find him, and the two of you weren't him, again, and you were so close, and I couldn't tear you apart- Besides, I thought it was you. You were trouble from week one. So please don't kill me."

"I don't kill people," Sabrina said. "Injure them, yes, terrify them, also yes, but not kill them. And I wouldn't kill you anyway. You're nowhere near the top of the list of people I think need to die, and I'm not going to ruing my honeymoon by going to jail. So. Back to the tour?"

They went on, both of them with a little more respect for each other, Sabrina still carrying the knife. When they returned to Ms. Smirt's office, Puck had finished with the forms, and all that was left was for Sabrina to sign. She did so, tossing Puck the knife. Puck glanced at it and snorted with amusement.

"She scare you?" he asked Ms. Smirt. "I knew she hated you, but not enough to use a weapon."

"I didn't touch her," Sabrina protested. "They might have some trouble getting the knives out of the wall, though. They're in pretty deep."

At that moment, the sound of many, many feet tramping through the hallway interrupted their conversation.

"That will be the orphans," Ms. Smirt said. "I believe you wanted to meet them?"

Sabrina nodded, picking the knife back up and sliding it into her belt. Seeing Puck's warning look, she told him "I'll put it back in the kitchen on my way out."

They went to the cafeteria, where most of the kids were waiting for their dinner. Sabrina scanned the area, looking around. It was much the way she remembered it, with the biggest, strongest ones sitting closest to the food, followed by the teacher's pets. After them came the kids who were just strong enough to scrape by without notice, and last, furthest from anybody, were the rejects.

Then she saw what she was looking for. A table full of teenagers who, while surly and uncooperative looking, were not strong or big enough to be in charge. They were the loners, the ones who didn't care about the social hierarchy, the ones she'd been part of when she was in the orphanage.

"Them." She nodded to Ms. Smirt. "You can leave now."

Sabrina and Puck walked over to the table she'd indicated, and sat down.

"Hi," Puck said, smiling winningly.

The kids ignored him for the most part.

Sabrina smiled at him sadly. "That won't work on them, you know. I bet that most of these kids have decided never to trust an adult again, especially one who comes here. After all, if your last five foster homes had used you as manual labor or beat you, would you trust them?"

Some of the teens looked up curiously when Sabrina said that, surprised that she understood what they'd gone through so well.

"I guess not," Puck said thoughtfully. "How would you suggest we do this, then?"

Sabrina shrugged. "If we had time, I'd say just sit here until they accept you, but since we're leaving soon, that won't work. So, I guess... You know what? Remember how I was when you first met me?"

Puck nodded.

"Treat them like you _should_ have treated me." Sabrina said. "Like... like a skittish horse, I guess. Or a wild animal."

"How do you know all this?" one of the teens asked curiously. "You talk like one of us, but you're a _grown-up._"

Sabrina quirked a half-smile at him. "I _was_ one of you, once."

The boy raised an eyebrow.

Sabrina nodded. "Spent a year and a half in this place. Smirt was my caseworker. Awful time." she said reminiscently. "But I _did_ make some of the best friends you'd ever know. We sat on the other side of the cafeteria, though. They fix the light over the pool table yet?"

A girl spoke up then. "No. How long ago were you here?"

"That would be... Let's see... I got here... it'd be about seventeen years ago, now. That light's been out for twenty years. Janitors haven't gotten any better since I was here. Not much seems to have."

The kids raised their eyebrows, and Sabrina knew that she, at least, had been accepted when one of the kids asked, "What's your name?"

"Sabrina Grimm," she answered. "And this is my husband, Puck."

"Sabrina Grimm?" the first boy asked. "They still talk about you. You're a _legend_!"

"Seriously?" Sabrina asked. "What for?"

"Beating all the guys in the orphanage at arm wrestling, and for being the last true loner," the girl answered. "You're my hero, you know that?"

Sabrina raised her eyebrows. "That's pretty epic. I'm honored. And what do you guys call yourselves?"

"The lonelies," a younger girl said. "We wanted The Loners Two, but it got vetoed." She glared at the first girl.

"What're your names?" Sabrina asked.

They went around in a circle, stating their names. The boy who'd spoken first was Rob, the girl Jess, the third speaker Alex, and the younger girl was Syll.

"Nice to meet you," Sabrina said. "Who's the oldest?"

They all pointed at a boy whose name was Cody.

"Do me a favor, and once you get out, don't forget about the people here," Sabrina said. "Or move too far away. Look into fostering."

Cody nodded. "How come?"

"Because my best friend might have been able to save some of the rest of my group from what happened, and if she had, my whole life might have been different." Sabrina reflected. "Not that it turned out badly, but for someone else, it might have been better. Who's youngest?"

Syll raised her hand.

"How old?" Sabrina asked.

"Thirteen," Syll said. "But I act older."

"Of course you do," Puck said. "How'd you like to be fostered by someone who'd actually treat you _right_?"

Syll shook her head mistrustfully. "There isn't anyone like that. They're all in it for the money."

Sabrina grinned. "I'm not, and Daphne wouldn't be. Now, it wouldn't be right away, but I could get you out of here soon. What do you say?"

"You'd seriously foster some of us?" Syll asked. "That's amazing!"

"Actually, I'd like to convince my grandma to open a home of sorts." Sabrina said. "Daphne's looking into it right now. So, you in?"

All the kids nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"How soon?" Alex asked.

Sabrina shrugged. "Depends how long it takes to get through the program. But no more than a year. I promise. But... just as a warning, my family's kind of... strange."

"Can't be any weirder than the other places I've been." Jess shrugged.

Puck grinned. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. But they're good people. They took Red and me in."

"What'd you do?" Rob asked.

"I was a runaway," Puck said arily. "And Red was an orphan with issues. But she's better now. Knowing the old lady, she'll welcome you with open arms and a plate of weird food."

"Yeah, about that," Sabrina said. "My grandma has some_ strange_ recipes. You might want to ask my mom to cook."

"And don't give Elvis sausage," Puck warned.

"Elvis is the dog. I've got to go now," Sabrina said. "But I'll see you soon."

"'Bye!" the teens called as Sabrina and Puck left. Sabrina waved, but didn't turn around.

Puck glanced at her. "Are you... _crying_?"

Sabrina wiped her eyes surreptitiously. She wasn't crying, not really. Her eyes were just kind of damp. "Those poor kids. They remind me so much of me. I can't imagine what wold have happened to Syll if she'd been here another five years. It's just _awful_. I'm going to fix things for them if it's the last thing I do."

"Don't worry." Puck said, wrapping his arm around her. "We'll do it."


	6. Alaska

**AN~ Theme song this chapter:**** Baby One More Time by Brittany Spears ...For Jason. Except not really. But whatever. It works. Don't question it.**

* * *

Sabrina and Puck had left New York, and seen the majority of the continental United States and Canada at a breakneck speed, completing their trip in less than two months and meeting several Everafters in the process. Puck, bored out of his skull on yet another car ride, had calculated that, at the rate they were going, they could see the whole world in less than two years, which Sabrina pointed out was about the time it had taken Granny Relda and Grandpa Basil, so they knew that already, and Puck had just wasted fifteen perfectly good minutes he could have spent kissing her. Puck agreed. He decided that boredom really ought to be a thing of the past now that they were married

They'd finally reached Alaska, and Sabrina was sitting next to Puck in the bus stop, doing a last-minute check on Dare and Jason's addresses, to make sure they didn't go to see them just to find out that they'd moved.

"They were there two months ago, they're probably still there," Puck pointed out.

"I know, but I just want to make sure," Sabrina said. "I mean, I haven't seen them in sixteen years. I could go to their house and see some thirty-some year old and assume it was Jason or Dare, and it could be someone completely different, and I'd be like, 'Hi! It's Sabrina Grimm, do you remember me?' and they'd be like, 'Who the heck? I've never met a Sabrina Grimm' and then I'd be all embarrassed and-"

Puck stopped her with a hand over her mouth. "You're rambling. It'll be fine."

Sabrina took a deep breath. "I know, but I'm nervous. I mean, last time I saw Jason-"

"Excuse me," a dark-haired woman standing nearby interjected. "I couldn't help but overhear, did you say your name was Sabrina _Grimm_?"

"Yes, yes I did," Sabrina said. "Why?"

"Because I'm Dare," the woman said.

Sabrina shrieked. So did Dare.

Puck held a hand over the ear closest to Sabrina. "Ow," he muttered.

"Sorry," Sabrina said. "But, well, I can't believe it was so easy! I mean, I knew you lived around here, but really, I mean- oh, this is amazing!" She gave up trying to figure out what to say and just gave Dare a hug.

"I can't believe it's you!" Dare said. "Did you seriously come all this way to find me?"

"Well, actually, I'm, well," Sabrina gestured to Puck, "I'm on my honeymoon, and we decided to stop here. This is Puck."

Dare raised an eyebrow. "Nice to meet you. Jason's not going to take this well."

"Oh, please," Sabrina said. "That was years ago. He can't possibly still-"

"He's never been with anyone else," Dare said.

Sabrina passed her hand over her face. "Wonderful. Things just got a whole lot more complicated."

"He's coming over tonight for dinner," Dare said. "You want to join us?"

"Sure," Puck shrugged. "That is, if it's all right with you, Sabrina?"

Sabrina sighed. "Well, I guess he's going to find out eventually. Might as well get it over with."

Dare sighed. "It's too bad. I mean, you two were great friends before all that business. Maybe you can be that way again."

Sabrina smiled sadly. "I don't know. I've never broken up with someone before, so I haven't had to try to stay friends with someone, either."

Dare stared. "You_ what_?"

Puck shrugged. "By the time we finally realized we were in love with each other, we were old enough and knew each other well enough to work through our problems instead of just ending things. Besides, there weren't many other people the same age back home."

"It's a _small_ town," Sabrina said by means of explanation. Then she sighed. "I miss it. How sad is that? I've only been away for two months, not even, and I'm already homesick."

Puck slung an arm around her. "You'll be fine. Now let me get to know your friend here."

"Right," Sabrina said. "I have to re-get to know her, too. It's been a while."

"That it has," Dare agreed.

They spent the car ride to Dare's house, and much of the time until Jason arrived, catching up with each other. Sabrina and Puck gave Dare and Chris, who was living with her, a shortened and magic-free version of the story of what had happened in Ferryport Landing since Sabrina left the orphanage, involving a war between secret high-tech societies. Dare explained what had happened to her in the past sixteen years: She'd married Chris, had no children, had no plans on having them, had finished college, and had a job as a guide and caretaker in a nearby nature preserve. Chris had started a facility to keep teens off the street and out of gangs, and was currently overseeing the whole business, but complaining that there wasn't much for him to do anymore. Everyone else had the place running like clockwork. Jason was helping him with that and looking into returning to school to become a lawyer, primarily for lower-class and under-represented people.

"I'm glad you've all remembered your orphan days," Sabrina was saying as Jason entered the kitchen. "I was a little worried you hadn't. Becca and Tom haven't, really. Or if they have, they haven't used them to make a difference."

The door opened. "Dare!" Jason called, walking in. "I'm- oh, you're here already. Who's this?"

"You remember Sabrina, right, Jason?" Dare asked.

"Of course I remember Sabrina," Jason said. "What about- wait. _This_ is Sabrina?"

"Why the look of surprise?" Sabrina asked, smiling dryly and attempting to remain calm.

"Chris! Puck!" Dare called, though neither Sabrina or Jason noticed as they stared at each other. "Jason's here!"

"How've you been?" Jason asked.

Chris and Puck, who had hit off and been hanging out in the living room, entered the kitchen.

"I've been great!" Sabrina said awkwardly. "Really great! And- and how about you? I hear you're considering becoming a lawyer?"

"That's right." Jason said. "And what have you been up to?"

"I'm a detective, actually." Sabrina said. "It's a family business. Daphne's one, too."

Puck picked that moment to come up next to Sabrina and wrap an arm around her, glaring at Jason, who was getting a little too close to Sabrina.

"Who's this?" Jason asked, giving Puck an equally hostile look.

"Oh!" Sabrina said nervously. Under her breath, she whispered to Puck, "You have absolutely _no_ tact, you know that?" Aloud, she said, "This is Puck, my- my husband."

Jason stared. He looked shocked, angry, horrified, and hurt, all those emotions crossing his face in a matter of seconds.

"Would you excuse us a minute?" Sabrina asked, unwrapping herself from Puck.

She grabbed Jason and pulled him to the living room, letting go of his arm as soon as they were both out of sight, and hopefully hearing, of the others.

"You got married?" Jason asked in a strangled voice.

"Jason, we were- well, _I_ was ten, and when I met Puck, well, at first I hated him, but, he and I've been through a lot together and-"

"More than _we_ went through?" Jason asked quietly.

Sabrina sighed. "You have no idea. Besides, you were in Alaska. I had no idea if I'd ever see you again, and- we can't help who we fall in love with. I mean, when I first met him, he was your complete opposite, and the idea of _ever _falling for him was _disgusting_, but when I got to know him better, he's not a bad guy, and I understood why he was like he was, and, when you depend on someone for your life for long enough and you're really the only people who are even your own age in the whole town, _and_ the only ones who get each other-"

Jason interrupted her. "Do you regret it?"

Sabrina thought. "No. I love Puck, with all my heart. And I love you, too, but not that way. I might have, but by the time I was ready to try, it was too late. I'm sorry I'm hurting you."

"It's all right," Jason said, even thought they both knew it wasn't, really. "I've spent most of my life waiting on you, I can keep doing it."

"Don't. At least _try_ to move on," Sabrina said. "I'll love Puck until one of us dies, and he's probably going to outlive me. Besides, my family kind of has a tendency to love one person forever. Look at my uncle! And my grandma."

"What happened to them?" Jason asked.

"My uncle's fiancee died sixteen years ago and he's still not over her, and my grandpa died over thirty years ago. Grimms apparently don't do that whole moving on thing particularly well. Except my dad. But he's an exception to most things."

"Why?" Jason asked.

"It's hard to explain," Sabrina said. "But he's a rebel against my family's norms. Not that I mind. I mean, having _Goldie_ for a mom would be _so_ weird..."

"Goldie?"

"She has OCD," Sabrina explained. She paused, then said, "Hey."

Jason, who had been heading back to the kitchen, turned around. "Yeah?"

"Still friends, right?"

"Right," Jason replied. "Always."

They all enjoyed dinner, and spent the next few days exploring the state before Sabrina and Puck's cruise to Russia pulled into port. Jason still seemed a little upset, but he was determined that, if he couldn't be with Sabrina the way he wanted to, he would at least be the best possible friend. Finally, the day for Puck and Sabrina's departure came, and they all gathered at the dock to say their goodbyes.

Sabrina looked at Jason thoughtfully, and handed him a slip of paper. "Go visit Daphne, all three of you. She'll be happy to see you. Stay a while. It sounds like you guys are ready to move on anyway."

"Yeah, we are." Jason grinned. "Dare's moved all over the state. She never stays one place for long, and she's been here longer than most." He paused, shifting a little, as if he would like to hug her but wasn't sure she'd be all right with that. Finally, he said softly, "'Bye."

Sabrina took pity on him and gave him a short, concise, we're-just-friends hug, and walked onto the ship. She didn't look back.

Puck noticed, and asked a question he'd been meaning to ask for a while. "You never look back when you say goodbyes. How come?"

Sabrina shrugged. "Superstition from somewhere. I think it was in a movie. But it says that if you look back, you'll never see the person again. So I never look back."

"Sure it's not a sign of weakness to look back or something?" Puck teased.

Sabrina laughed and shoved him lightly. "Absolutely sure. And it's not that I'm moving on, either. I don't think I can. But never look back. Ever."

"I'll remember that," Puck said calmly. "What was on that paper?"

"I was doing some matchmaking, that's all." Sabrina shrugged.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "I thought that was Daphne's job."

"Well, who's going to matchmake for her?" Sabrina asked innocently. "She needs someone who'll hold her down and keep her calm. None of the boys she's brought home will do that."

"You know, I think she brought them home because she wanted what you had," Puck said. "I mean, _we_ never did any of that gunk she did, but she was looking for love, and we _knew_ we were going to get married, so we could wait."

Sabrina shook her head. "She was worse than either of us were as teens. Worse than Basil and Red, too, and all of us lived in the same house."

Puck shrugged. "She was looking for love. You had it already. You were happy. I think she was just trying to be like you, same as she always did. Trying to live up to your standards and all that crud."

"Are you saying she was jealous?" Sabrina asked.

Puck thought. "Actually, yeah. Besides, you left some pretty big shoes to fill. Saving the world and all that."

"Shut up," Sabrina rolled her eyes. "That was ages ago."

"Just because nothing's happened so that you can be heroic doesn't mean that you aren't still a hero anymore," Puck said. "Hey, by any chance, did you do this to get Jason off you back?"

"No!" Sabrina protested. "He's still my friend, and I get what he's going through. I just want him to be happy. This will be good for both of them. Trust me."

Puck shook his head, but he was grinning, and she decided that he was just too secure in that expression, so she kissed him. That ended the discussion.


	7. Daphne's Dilemas

**AN~ Theme song this chapter:**** "I Can do Better" by Avril Lavigne.  
**

* * *

Back in Ferryport Landing, Daphne was in the process of rescuing Red and Basil from the wrath of Tobias Clay and Henry Grimm. It was not an easy task, keeping those two out of trouble, particularly now that Red wasn't distracted by her video games anymore. Of course, it was nowhere near as bad as the things she'd been up to when she was their age.

**Flashback:**

_"Daphne!" Puck yells. "Get out of my room!"_

_"But Puck!" Daphne complains, ducking as she runs out of the room with her newest and current favorite boyfriend, "Sabrina's in my room, and there's noplace else we can get any privacy!"_

_"Did you ever think that_ _I_ _might be in my room?" Puck demands. "Go find someplace else to make out with your boyfriend!"_

_"It's such a great place to do it, though!" Daphne calls, grinning as she hides behind the ice cream stand, boyfriend still in tow. "Dad's afraid to go in, and it's so big, and romantic, and peaceful, and quiet-"_

_"I'll take your word for it," Puck says dryly. He's close by, he's almost found them.  
_

_"You should try it sometime," Daphne calls, grinning with the boyfriend. "I'm sure Sabrina would take you up on it if you offered."_

_She spends the rest of the day being chased around by a host of angry people._

**End Flashback.**

Things like that happened more times than she could count, with different boyfriends. She never kept them for long, most of the time because she found out that they weren't... honorable. Or they were jokes. She kept thinking she could do better than them, that there had to be a boy somewhere for her who was her equivalent of Puck for Sabrina, or Basil for Red. A boy who'd treat her right, who'd love her just the way she was.

She shook her head and returned to protecting the two teens from their respective father figures. She didn't have time to daydream about prince charming. He wasn't such a great guy, after all.

The chase was interrupted by a knock on the door. Normally, no one would have bothered themselves about that, but now that Sabrina and Puck were gone, the resident door-answerer needed a replacement.

"I'll get it!" Basil called, hoping to ease his punishment, or at least delay it.

At the door were three people who all looked to be in their thirties: a dark-haired woman, a burly man with light brown hair, and the youngest of the group, a man who also had dark hair.

"Hi," the woman said. "Does Daphne Grimm live here?"

Daphne pushed her way in front of Basil. "That's me. Who are you?"

"I'm Dare, and this is my husband, Chris, and my brother, Jason."

Daphne's eyes widened. Her hand inched towards her mouth. She stopped herself (she was too old for that). "Seriously? That's amazing! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" She ran for the trio and engulfed them in a group hug that lasted for longer than most people would be comfortable with. By the time it was over, the rest of the family had gathered in the hallway, and Basil and Red were temporarily off the hook. Introductions were passed around, and the rest of the afternoon and most of the next day were spent getting to know each other, or re-getting to know each other, and convincing Dare, Chris and Jason that they didn't have to stay in a hotel, but could stay in the Grimm house for as long as they liked.

* * *

A few days later, the lonelies arrived.

Granny was overjoyed to have youngsters in the house agai;, Basil and Red were glad to have other people their own age; Henry was offered a little more insight into understanding people, especially his daughters; Veronica was just glad to have another project, as Sabrina had called the recipients of Veronica's charity; Mr. Clay put up with the older children but practically adopted Syll as his own; Jake took to hiding all the magical items in the house, including Elvis, and spent long hours away; and Chris, Daphne, Dare, and Jason bonded with each and every kid. They did form especially strong bonds with some of the children, Dare with Cody, Chris with Alex, Jason with Rob, and Daphne with Jess, and the eight spent a little more time together than did anyone else.

It all went well until Elvis got sausage.

"Oh, what's that smell?" Jess asked, fanning a hand in front of her nose and screwing up her face.

Elvis's tail went between his legs, and he whimpered, "Sorry."

Jess, Syll, Rob, Chris, Alex, Cody, Dare and Jason all stared.

Daphne glared at Elvis. There couldn't be much worse a time, because all eight of them were in the kitchen. "Elvis!" she hissed. "We said no talking!"

Elvis whimpered again, and in the silence that followed, another loud, foul-smelling fart was released.

"Did that dog just ...talk?" Rob asked.

"No, you're hallucinating because of the smell," Elvis said hurriedly.

"But then why am I having the same hallucination?" Jason asked.

The others voiced similar concerns, and Daphne sighed. She'd known it would happen eventually, but not quite this soon.

"Elvis, get outside. Syll, Jess, and Alex, go get the rest of my family please? Everyone else, open the windows. We need to have a meeting. Don't tell any of the other foster kids, though, all right?" Daphne gave her orders, then went to get a can of air freshener while the others carried her instructions out.

"What is it,_ liebling_?" Granny asked when all the Grimms had gathered in the kitchen. The ones who had heard were safely away.

Daphne sighed again, leaning against the sink and giving the air one last spray before the aresol can died. "Elvis slipped up. They heard. I figured we should have a group meeting to decide whether to dust them or tell. Votes?"

"I don't like either one," Henry said. "You know how I feel about using that stuff on humans. I think we shouldn't have brought them here at all. But I think that we might as well tell them, now they're here."

"I think so, too," Daphne said. "Mom?"

"Tell," Veronica said. "They have a right to know."

"I think we should dust them," Red said hesitantly. "I mean, we've gone hundreds of years without any humans finding out, and now there's a ton, and, well..."

"I agree with Red," Mr. Clay said. "It's safer for everyone."

"Tell them," Uncle Jake said. "Elvis is getting sick of this. And I'm tired of hiding him."

"Whatever happens, I want them to stay here," Basil said. "It's nice to have teenagers in the area. Which reminds me, what are we going to do about Red and school next year?"

"Later, Basil," Daphne said, rolling her eyes. "Granny?"

"I don't think it matters, since most people want to tell them anyway," Granny said. She left the room and, sitting down in the living room, proceeded to explain to the ones who'd been in the kitchen during the Elvis episode the truth of the town, the history of Everafters and magic. She didn't spare any details of Daphne and Sabrina's history. Uncle Jake added truth to her story with examples from his trench coat.

At the end of the story, Granny leaned back against her chair. "Any questions?"

"Would your town mind particularly if we lived here?" Dare asked. "This sounds like just the right place for me to get the adventure I've been looking for.

"Way to ask me," Chris said dryly. "But actually, it sounds like a good idea. I can start up another youth center, and we can take a few of the foster kids off your hands. I'm certified. How's it sound to you, Jason?"

"It sounds good," Jason said, sounding a little shell-shocked. "This is incredible, though. Are you going to tell the other kids?"

"Maybe eventually, if they stumble across something, or they want to move here forever once they're eighteen." Daphne said.

"Do-" Syll spoke up, "Do fairy tale characters _really_ live here?"

"I'm Little Red Riding Hood," Red said. "Puck is from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mr. Clay was the big bad wolf. Snow White teaches elementary school. Prince Charming is the Mayor. Several fairies run restauraunts. Two of the three little pigs are policemen, with a little carpentry on the side. Is there anybody you'd like to meet? We can probably arrange it, but it might be in jail."

"Well..." Syll said shyly, "I guess, does... Sleeping Beauty live here?"

The atmosphere in the room got very tense. No one spoke for a few seconds, and Jake fingered a ring he wore on his left finger.

"Did I say something wrong?" Syll asked.

"Don't worry, there's no way you could have known," Veronica said.

"Known what?" Rob asked.

"She's dead," Jake said flatly. He left the room.

Daphne looked after him sadly as he left. "It was fifteen years ago, but he's still pretty torn up about it. He's all right most of the time, but if you spring her name on him or anything, he breaks down. It's so sad."

"I'm still mad at Charming, for acting like she was just a tool to get his army, instead of treating it like a _real_ tragedy," Red said tightly.

"What was going on with them?" Jess asked curiously. "I mean, he's pretty upset about it."

"They were engaged," Veronica said. "That's the ring he was fiddling with."

"That's awful," Cody said. "Do normal people and Everafters... get together a lot?"

"Not much, no," Granny said. "But it's getting to be a lot more common, now. I think the first one for several hundred years was Cinderella and Tom, may they rest in peace."

Daphne smiled dryly. "They seem to have sparked a trend. Starting with Dad."

"Wait-" Jess said, pointing at Veronica. "_You're_ from a fairytale?"

Veronica smiled tightly. "No, she's referring to Henry's ex, Goldilocks."

"Oh, sorry," Jess said. "My bad."

"So Goldilocks is single again?" Jason asked. "How old is she?"

Daphne felt a spark of something in her gut that she hadn't felt in a long time, but she controlled it to study later and told him, "Yeah. She's actually close to three hundred, but she looks like she's about my age. We're friends. She's got major OCD, though."

"Sabrina said that," Dare said. "Remember?"

"Yeah," Jason said, "But she also told me to move on, and I figure going on a date is a good way to start that."

"I could set you up, I guess," Daphne said, still clamping down on that feeling in her gut. What was wrong with her? This was Jason, her mentor, her big sister's ex, her friend she hadn't seen in ages, but every mention of him with Sabrina or Goldilocks felt like someone was dropping rocks into her intestines. Big rocks.

It took her a while to come to terms with it.

She had a crush on him.


	8. Around the World in Eighty Weeks

**AN~ Theme song for this section: ****Like Whoa by Aly & AJ.  
**

* * *

Sabrina and Puck had toured the whole world together, and found it amazing. Puck had been astonished by the changes in the outside world since he'd been there last, and Sabrina had just been astonished by the world in general.

South America was beautiful, and in most places a lot more wild than the United States, but just as modern and maybe more so in other places. They spent about two months there.

Australia and the major islands in the Pacific ocean were wild, too, and Puck had to be reminded by Sabrina that they were _not_ walking around upside down. They spent another two months exploring the Pacific ocean.

They traveled to Antarctica from Australia, and spent a month studying penguins and befriending ice sprites who were complaining about how they couldn't regenerate the ice the way they wanted to because the global warming scientist kept getting in their way. Sabrina decided it was the essence of irony that the very people who were trying to prevent the shrinking of the polar ice caps were the ones causing it.

Their tour of Africa was led by Anazi the spider, who showed them all the best places to visit that tourists didn't normally see, and introduced them to all the Everafters in the continent, most of whom he had annoyed at one point or another. They spent another two months on their tour, then a single month in the Middle East.

Russia and China were big, ornate, and full of Everafters, more so than the Americas, which were relatively light on the native magical side. They spent four months in Asia, both because Sabrina wanted to meet as many of the Everafters as possible, and because they both wanted to see everything worth visiting.

From Asia they went to their last continent of the tour: Europe. This was Sabrina's favorite place. She liked seeing the places her friend's histories had happened, and she liked meeting the Everafters who were still there, but she especially liked seeing the ruins of old castles in Ireland.

After another two months or so in Europe, they spent another month exploring the islands and things in the Atlantic ocean, then they went back to New York City, before finally heading back home. They stopped by all of Sabrina's old friends again, reminding the ones who were coming to the reunion that it was coming up, and getting email addresses and such so that she could contact them again later.

They'd spent a year and five months away from home by this time, and were eager to get home. While it was nice to see the world, there really _was_ no place like home.

* * *

**AN~ Theme song this section: ****Distracted by KSM. LOVE that song. It fits my life so well.**

******Also, America's Ham and Sonibear's second challenge in this section, by means of a story told by Daphne.**

* * *

Daphne was helping Dare and Chris move into their new house with most of the uninitiated foster kids. They'd decided it was better to get the ones who didn't know about the magic out of the house as fast as possible, so that the Grimms wouldn't have to hide magic at home so much. Jason was getting himself an apartment nearby and taking the last of the foster kids who didn't know about the magic with him, but he wasn't moving for another few days, and Daphne was savoring every remaining moment he spent in her house.

The house felt really roomy now, which was funny, because they still had five extra teens back home, and Daphne had never felt like Granny's house was spacious, even after they rebuilt.

She was trying to put up a painting when Jason came in with a heavy armchair. She adjusted the hanger so it would hopefully catch on the hook this time, but her mind wasn't on her work anymore, and she glanced at Jason absentmindedly. He was _strong_. When had that happened, she wondered? She remembered the scrawny boy she'd at the orphanage and decided that, while he'd been cute before, he was downright gorgeous now. Growing up had been good for him.

She was startled out of her reverie by the crash of the painting slamming to the ground, the glass of the frame shattering.

"Frig," she muttered, her face turning red. That was another new thing. Sabrina had always been the blusher, not her! That was one of the reasons she'd always been glad she got her mom's complexion.

"Nice," Jason chuckled.

Daphne shot him a glare, bending down to pick up the pieces. "You distracted me!"

"Sorry." Jason shrugged. "Here, let me help you clean that up."

Daphne was torn between wanting to be close to him and wanting to get him as far away as possible from the source of her embarrassment, and her, so that she could concentrate again. She decided that it was more important that she get some work done, so she said, "No, no, it's fine, I'll get it!"

But as she said so, she straightened up and bumped into Jason, who was kneeling down, and they both ended up in a tangled, bloody mess on the floor.

"Oh, wonderful," she muttered, trying to detach herself from Jason and focus on something other than how close he was. "bBood stains on the rug. Just what we need."

"I can put the chair on top of that," Jason suggested. "But we probably ought to clean up first."

"_I'll_ clean up, _you_ go get out of my hair!" Daphne ordered, trying hard to control herself. "I was doing just fine before you invaded my space!"

Jason looked a little hurt, but he laughed all the same. "Fine, then you can clean up the glass all by yourself."

"Fine!" Daphne said, pretending to be angry. "I don't need your help anyway!"

Jason laughed and walked off, leaving Daphne to berate herself for being so dumb whenever she saw Jason. He was just another guy. Nothing special. Right. He was just kind of cute, and strong, and understanding, and sweet, and funny, and _sexy_ and-

She stopped herself. That wasn't helping.

Before she could get into too much of a funk, Syll stuck her head in from the next room, where she'd been painting. "What was that crash?"

"Me being stupid," Daphne said. "If you help me clean it up I'll tell you the story I promised."

The story she was referring to was one Granny had mentioned offhand about Puck and Sabrina's teen years. Granny hadn't had time to finish it, but Syll had been fascinated, and she'd been bugging Daphne to finish the story ever since.

"Of course!" Syll said, running off to get the cleaning supplies.

When she came back a few minutes later and the two started cleaning, Daphne began, "It started when Basil wanted to go to Hatchettland for his eighth birthday. None of the rest of us really wanted to go- we all knew how stupid it was, and how much of a prig Hatchett is. But it was Basil's birthday, so we went.

"We actually had a good time. Red and Basil had neither of them ever been to an amusement park before, and they both ran around having the time of their lives. They were adorable back then. Most of the adults went off to do their own thing, and Uncle Jake was supposed to take care of us, but he got distracted, so I tagged around watching Red and Basil for a while, but when you're fourteen, there's only so many kiddie rides you can go on before you lose your mind, so I went off on my own as soon as I found Uncle Jake.

"Sabrina and Puck had been on their own this whole time, and I figured I might as well find them and see if they were up for hanging out. Sabrina had been a little more distant recently, being a legal adult and commuting to college and all, but I figured they'd be more fun than the little ones.

"By the time I found them, it was pretty late, and the park was getting ready to close. Puck was trying to prank one of the midway vendors, and Sabrina had pulled him behind one of the stands to talk some sense into him, and I helped.

"We must have spent more time than we thought on that conversation, because by the time Puck agreed to not pull any pranks until he was home and we got out from between the stands, there was no one left in the midway. That was kind of freaky, so we figured we'd better head for the entrance gate before the grown-ups started to worry about us.

"But we got within sight of the gate just in time to see someone locking it from outside, and they didn't hear us yelling. We were locked in.

"Once we'd have just had Puck fly us back home, but I've always been a big girl, a lot bigger than I am now, and Puck was tired, fluteless, and not willing to carry the three hundred pounds of the two of us. Sabrina thought about picking the lock, but she didn't have any of her tools, so we were stuck.

"At first we wondered why the rest of the family left us behind, but then we decided that they probably forgot just how heavy Sabrina and I were together. Sabrina and Puck had talked about flying back on the way up, so it was actually likely.

"So now we were left with the question of what to do for the night. We decided on the bouncy castle for a bed, and went on a search for dinner. We split up, each looking for our own food, and I- well, I gorged myself and pretty much forgot about the other two for a while. When I'd finally eaten my fill, I raided the (unlocked, can you believe it?) gift shop for some Hatchettland themed pajamas and a flashlight, and headed back for the bouncy castle.

"When I got to the castle, I heard giggling from inside, and that kind of shocked me. I thought up a few possible choices: first, there was someone else in the tent; second, someone had used magic to make Sabrina a giggler; third, Puck was messing with my head, or last and least likely, that Sabrina was _giggling_.

"I went with the second option. It was the most likely.

"I snuck up to the castle to see what was going on, and I was dumbfounded because Sabrina _was_ actually giggling. I decided it was definitely the second choice. Sabrina was, and still isn't, a giggler. I watched them for a while, and I figured out that Sabrina actually _hadn't_ been brainwashed, she was just really tired and, well, she's liked Puck since she was eleven, and girls get a little weird around their crushes.

"I was left with the choice to either interrupt them rudely, find a way to get in without embarassing them, or to just not come into the tent at all. I picked the third one. It was the most interesting.

"I watched them the rest of the night, and I got so much dirt on those two, they owe me forever. I saw ther second kiss, I saw what happened after, and I saw them decide to keep the relationship a secret for a while so I didn't say 'I told you so,' along with half the rest of the town. Which is what would have happened. I had to keep it a secret, too, because I didn't have a death wish, but I did slip some hints, and as soon as everyone else found out, I told the story," Daphne finished.

The ending of her story was met with a chorus of laughter from the other helpers, who had snuck in partway through the story. Everyone but Jason seemed to be enjoying themselves, and went about their work again merrily, but Jason seemed a little melancholy.

He was still there once everyone else was goine, and he set about moving the chair on top of the bloodstain without looking at Daphne.

"You're still stuck on her, aren't you?" Daphne asked sadly.

Jason nodded.

"If it helps, she was never the same once you left. Part of the reason it took her so long to get together with Puck is that she refused to think she could like someone else, especially someone who was your complete opposite," she offered.

"Thanks," Jason said.

Daphne almost smiled, and realized she hadn't seen him come in, hadn't been distracted. That was a step forward! "Did you still want me to arrange that date for you with Goldie?" she offered, then realized what she'd just said and mentally slapped herself.

"Thanks," Jason said again. This time it was completely emotionless.

"I get how you're feeling," Daphne said. _I wouldn't want a date with someone else if Dare offered to arrange it,_ she thought. "But you _do_ need to move on. And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here. Well, not here, probably at my house, but I'll listen. If you can find me. Which you should be able to, it's a small town and you have my cell number and-"

Jason interrupted her. "You're rambling."

Daphne blushed. "Oops. I do that when I'm nervous. Sorry."

"Why are you nervous?" Jason asked.

_Because I'm trying to be what you need me to be. Because I'm subtly flirting with you. Because you make my heart beat about a million times a minute. Because you're amazing. Because I don't want to ruin a friendship we might have by letting you know I'm falling for you. Because I've never felt like this before. Because you're still Sabrina's, and Sabrina is my sister, and this is like betraying her._

She said none of that. "I don't know. You have that affect on me."

She left before she said anything else stupid.


	9. Little Boy Blue

**AN~ Theme song this section: ****Don't Come Crying by KSM.**

* * *

Jason and Goldie were finally going on their date, and Daphne wasn't taking it well. Red, who had remained friends with Daphne despite the age difference that came about as Red and Basil grew closer, was mystified. Currently, she was trying to calm Daphne down enough to get her to explain what the problem was. Everyone else was hiding from the wrath of Daphne Grimm.

"Would you just tell me what's wrong?" Red asked Daphne as she stormed around the kitchen.

"They're getting along!" Daphne growled, slamming the last of the dishes into the sink and turning on the faucet with a spin so intense the handle smacked into the full-on position with an audible noise.

"And why is that bad?" Red asked. "You're the one who set them up."

"I did _not_!" Daphne shouted, grabbing a sponge and squirting half a bottle of detergent onto it. She dropped the bottle back onto the countertop, where it reinflated itself with a slow wheeze. "He _asked_. I just mentioned that I knew Goldie and offered to bring him up! Setting up is what I did with you and Basil, and with Sabrina and Puck!"

"And like fifty other people," Red said offhandedly, thinking about them all.

"That was just because they all refused to see how perfect they were for each other!" Daphne said. "These two don't need that! They're perfectly fine on their own, even though anyone can see they're not going to work out!"

"So why are you angry?" Red asked, picking up a cloth to dry the dishes Daphne was attacking. "I mean, if they're going to break up anyway..."

Daphne sighed, setting down the sponge. "It's just, well-" She took a deep breath, all the fire leaving her with the air. "_I_ like him. There. I said it."

"I sort of figured that. But if they're not going to work out..." Red trailed off.

"But what if they _do_?" Daphne whispered.

Red smiled. "You're as bad as your sister."

Daphne shuddered. "Oh, please no."

"All right, not quite as bad." Red said. "Why are you so sure they're not meant for each other, by the way?"

"Because I know Goldie and I know Jason. Goldie's going to think he's a jerk. Especially when she finds out he's a bit of a slob." Daphne said, picking the sponge back up and returning to washing the dishes, much less forcefully.

"He is?" Red asked, relieved for the dishes' sake that her best friend had calmed down. They'd had to replace enough flatware last time Daphne had boy trouble.

Daphne laughed a little. "Please. Have you seen his bedroom?"

Red raised an eyebrow. "No. What were you doing there?"

"Nothing like that." Daphne glared at her. "He doesn't even know I think of him as anything more than a friend."

"Why not?" Red asked.

Daphne shrugged. "He's seven years older than I am, he was in love with my older sister, he's maybe not over her yet, and I'm... not sure I'm ready."

"The ex?" Red asked, understanding, suddenly. There was no need for names. They both knew who they were talking about

Daphne nodded.

"He was... two years ago?" Red asked.

"Not quite," Daphne said. "Two on Valentine's day."

"That's sad," Red said.

"Tell me about it," Daphne said.

Red gave Daphne a close look. "This must hurt, since Goldie's your best friend."

Daphne finished the last dish and shook her head. "It does hurt, but _you're_ my best friend. Goldie's just... more on my level sometimes. But she hasn't been through all the stuff you and I went through together, she's got the whole OCD thing going on, and you just _get_ me better. I can talk about anything with you. Like this."

Red laughed, putting the dishrag down. "Thanks for the ego boost."

"No problem," Daphne said. "So how are you and Basil?"

"Not so good," Red said, smile dropping from her face. "Blue's back."

"Blue as in Little Boy Blue, your stalker?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow.

Red nodded. "It makes us both a little tense, and when Basil's tense, he lashes out, usually at me. He yelled at me half an hour ago."

Daphne thought for a minute. "I have... no cure for that, except maybe to beat some sense into him. Want me to talk with him?"

Red shook her head. "I can deal with the yelling. It's _Blue_ that's the issue. I mean, I grew out of him, and when I stopped being crazy, it was over."

"I can talk to _him_" Daphne offered. "Or get you a restraining order."

"Nah, I think this is something I have to do," Red said. "I never really finished things, I just sort of started ignoring him. He's probably really confused."

"All right, but you'd better bring backup," Daphne said. "In fact, is that him out there?" She nodded out the kitchen window.

Red glanced over and sighed. "Yup. Come on, let's get this thing over with."

The two pulled on their coats and stepped into boots, then headed out to the edge of the yard, where Little Boy Blue, son of Bluebeard, and no longer little or boyish at all, stood waiting.

"What are you _doing_ here, Blue?" Red asked.

"Waiting for you," Blue said, shivering.

"You don't have a coat," Red said. "It's January. You'll freeze! Go home."

"I need to talk to you," Blue said.

Daphne looked at Blue closely. She found it hard to believe that Bluebeard had kept any of his wives around and alive long enough to have a son, but anything was possible, and she supposed some of them had lasted longer than others. At any rate, there was no doubt that Blue was his father's son. He'd inherited the blue hair, the handsomely rugged looks, and the scarily unpredictable personality. This conversation would have to be handled carefully or Blue would explode, and Red would pay the price.

"What do you want to talk about?" Red asked. It was obvious she knew the hazards of talking to Blue even better than Daphne did.

"Why have you been ignoring me?" Blue asked. "We were great one day, then, BOOM, you forgot I existed!"

Red didn't look at him. "People change, that's all," she said cautiously. "I, well, I switched sides, and you were still in the Scarlet Hand, and-"

"But we could have stayed friends!" Blue shouted.

Red sighed sadly. "No we couldn't have, Blue. When they fixed me, I forgot almost everything for a long time. Once I remembered, even if you hadn't been so caught up in avenging your dad, I didn't have _time _to see you, and I didn't want to leave the only people who ever treated me right!"

"We treated you right!" Blue said.

"No, you didn't," Red said, shaking her head. "You were nice sometimes, but you were just as nasty as your father other times, just as unstable as me, just as crazy!"

As soon as she said that, the mood changed. Blue's face went dark, and Daphne pulled a small wand discreetly out of her trench coat. He was going to explode soon.

"I'm not!" Blue shouted. "I'm _not_ crazy, I'm _not_!"

"Come inside, Blue." Red begged. "Don't stay out here! We can help you, like they helped me! We can make you better!"

"_No_!" Blue shouted, tensing, getting ready to bolt. "They've brainwashed you! They want to hurt me, and you!"

Goldie's car pulled up, unnoticed by the two girls. Blue, seeing it, ran straight at Jason, who was emerging from the car. Jason grabbed Blue in passing. He obviously had no idea what was going on, but apparently that wasn't going to stop him. Blue pummeled Jason's chest, thrashing and trying to break out of the stronger man's grip. Daphne, who had been trying to get a clear shot at Blue, yelled for Jason to keep him still, aimed, and fired.

She missed. The wand's shot grazed Jason's forehead.

She cursed under her breath, then fired again, hitting Blue square in the back this time. He fell down into the snow, tranquilized. Jason looked down at Blue with bleary eyes, then up at Daphne in confusion.

"Sorry," Daphne said, running toward them. "Did I hurt you?"

Goldie ran out of the car, coming up to Jason and fixing his hair, that had been mussed in the fight. "What was THAT, Daphne?"

"That would be Blue," Daphne said. "He's been stalking Red, and we had an issue."

"Shouldn't Basil have dealt with that?" Goldie said distastefully.

"If _he_ did it," Daphne said, "Blue would be in the hospital right now, and not the mental ward. Red? Can you go get Mr. Clay and the kazoo?"

Red nodded and ran into the house.

"Who's Blue?" Jason asked drowsily.

Daphne looked at him worriedly. "Are you all right? Did I break the skin?" She dug through the hair Goldie had just flattened, despite the other woman's glare, and looked at his head. "It's not bad, but you'll be lucky if you don't pass out for a few minutes.

Goldie gave Daphne a look that said clearly, _stay away from my man! _Daphne smiled at Goldie like there was nothing wrong, but backed away anyway.

"I'm fine," Jason said, waving her away tiredly, "But who's this?"

"Little Boy Blue, only son of Bluebeard, Red's ex, and genuine crazy stalker," Daphne said.

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Wow. I've never met a stalker before. What are you doing with him?"

"If Mr. Clay has the kazoo, then we can cure him, and he'll hopefully come to his senses and leave Red alone."

"Wow," Jason said. "You weren't kidding about all that magic stuff."

Daphne raised an eyebrow and rolled Blue over with her foot. "Did you think I was?"

"No," Jason said. "But... well, it's different when you see it firsthand."

Daphne grinned. "I wouldn't know."

Jason shook his head. "Weird."

Daphne grinned. "Yup. So how was your date?" She was proud to say that she choked the words out without sounding too forced. She wouldn't have said it in the first place, but Goldie's glare was getting a little annoying.

"It was wonderful," Goldie said. "How about your evening?"

Daphne shook her head. "You don't want to know."

* * *

**AN~ Theme song for this section (same evening, Jason's POV): ****Sweet Dreams by Beyonce.**

* * *

Goldilocks was not what Jason expected at all. He'd heard about the OCD, and how she was still as stuck on Henry Grimm (over a decade her senior in looks, by that point) as he was on Sabrina, and he'd heard that she could talk to animals, but he hadn't expected her to seem so... young.

She didn't seem to have matured like Sabrina had, even though she was in her hundreds. Also, the OCD thing had not been understated, and it was a little annoying. So was the fact that she stared at Henry the whole time they were in the Grimm's house. Of course, he couldn't exactly fault her for that. He'd done practically the same thing to Sabrina, after all.

That was probably the reason he was attracted to her, more than anything else. They shared the loss of someone they'd really cared about to someone else.

He'd enjoyed the end of the date, if not the beginning, though he wasn't quite sure if the two of them were a good combination. He was a little too laid back, especially where it came to neatness, to fit her right.

Still, everything had started out just fine. Goldi had arrived precisely on time to pick him up, and they'd spent a few extremely awkward minutes in the Grimm's kitchen, while Henry tried to escape, Daphne and Veronica both glared at Goldi, and Relda had tried and failed to keep the atmosphere light.

It hadn't worked well, so Jason hustled out of the house quickly, hoping that things would lighten up once they were away from the love triangle and Daphne's unexplained bad mood.

He'd attempted to start a conversation on the drive over to the movie, but none of his topics sparked anything more than a few sentences, so he eventually lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

He was glad when they finally got to the theater, and he could simply enjoy the movie without having to worry about Goldi. It was a regular action movie with a bit of romance thrown in, one that, with a few changes, would be exactly like any other action movie that had ever been created. Hero is set up, hero discovers villains, hero meets girl, hero has many adventures and saves world, hero gets girl, hero lives happily ever after, at least until they decide that a sequel must be written to make more money, because two million isn't enough for anybody.

Still, anything was better than that uncomfortable silence.

Afterwards, they'd gone to dinner, and after a few more dead end conversations, he'd hit upon the one topic that caught her interest: Feng Shui.

She could talk for hours about it, allowing Jason to simply smile, nod, eat, and occasionally ask her a simple question. It made the date much less awkward, and, as Jason had already exhausted most of his daily word quota on Daphne that afternoon, he was happy to simply sit and listen.

Of course, not much of what she was saying sunk in. He got the basic gist of the conversation, but the food was too good for him to not pay attention to it, and he kept being distracted by other things. The waitress with the bright blue eyes and the old fashioned hair that served them and seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, or the man with the giant smile, or the sign that proudly proclaimed: _The Blue Plate Special: Your wish is our command! Today's special: Blueberry Cobbler._

He felt a little bad, being so easily distracted. He wondered if he had ADD. That would be a _wonderful_ couple, one with ADD and another with OCD. They'd probably kill each other.

Of course, Sabrina and Puck had started out by almost killing each other, according to Daphne.

He doubted that this date would be this awkward if it was Daphne sitting across from him, instead of Goldi. The two of them had always gotten along perfectly, from the time they'd met. They'd been joined by the friendship of, and the weirdness of, their older sisters, and by the way they both liked to make other people happy, the way they read others so perfectly. Actually, the Grimms were some of the few people he couldn't understand after watching them for a few minutes. That was one of the things that had attracted him to Sabrina so much. She was an enigma, a puzzle that needed to be unlocked, and he loved puzzles.

Of course, they'd been separated when he was in the last few stages of REALLY understanding her, and someone else had come along and solved her before he saw her again.

He missed Sabrina. Missed the girl who wanted so much to be older, to be mature, to be on par with the adults and teens she was surrounded by. She'd gotten that, it seemed. She'd done so much, and he felt like he'd been left behind in the dust.

When he realized that he'd just had a bitter thought about Sabrina, he also realized something else: he wasn't in love with her anymore. Of course, he wasn't over her, and probably wouldn't be for a long time, but it was still progress.

He somehow didn't think that Goldie was the reason he was moving on, though. He just didn't think they were right for each other.

Of course, this _was_ just the first date. What would Daphne think of him, judging Goldie so fast?

Why did his thoughts keep circling back to Daphne?

He was distracted from his thoughts then by Goldi's comment, "But I've been talking all about myself. What do you like to do?"

After shaking himself mentally for a few seconds, Jason resumed conversing with Goldie, and was able to keep himself focused on their conversation, now that he was actually really required to participate, for the rest of dinner.

Their conversation continued throughout the drive home, and on the way out of the car, he gave Goldi a short, awkward hug, only a few seconds before he was run over by a mentally unstable teenage boy.


	10. Sanity

**AN~ Theme song this chapter:**** Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace**

* * *

Red ran outside, carrying a glass jar and towing Mr. Canis, who followed behind rather slowly. They were heading for Little Boy Blue, who was lying unconscious in the frigid yard.

Mr. Canis shook his head in something like amusement as Red raced for her stalker, and walked a little faster to keep pace. Once he had reached them, he pulled a kazoo out of his pocket leisurely, then put it to his mouth and blew.

A wind blew up from nowhere and spun around the teenage boy lying on the snowy ground, somehow not disturbing the people surrounding him, and yet picking up the snow and creating a small tornado. Out of that tornado, a horrifying shadow came screaming, straight into the jar Red had prepared for it. She spun the lid on tightly, then smiled as the wind died down.

"Thank you," she said. "You going to put these with the others?"

Mr. Canis nodded tersely, taking the jar and returning to the house.

Jason stared. "What was that?"

"You mean the black thing, or the kazoo?" Daphne asked absently, watching Blue. "He should be waking up soon," she told Red.

Red nodded. "You want me to take him inside?"

"Sure," Daphne agreed. "Need any help?"

Red looked from her petite form to Blue's bulky body. "That'd be nice, yeah."

"No need to be sarcastic," Daphne protested. She pulled out a small bracelet and gave it to Red, who placed it on her wrist, picking Blue up easily afterwards.

"You were saying?" Daphne asked Jason, watching Red pull Blue into the house.

"Everything," Jason said.

"The kazoo was how the big bad wolf blew houses down, but it's actually used to blow the madness out of people, the black thing was the madness, and the bracelet is something I got from Puck," Daphne listed. "Anything else?"

"No, that's enough for now," Jason said. "'Bye, Goldi."

He gave her a hug, which Daphne watched tensely, then Goldi got into her car and drove away, and Jason and Daphne headed for the house.

"When are you moving, again?" Daphne asked, shivering.

"Two weeks," Jason said. "Why?"

"I just forgot, that's all," Daphne said. "I'm going to miss you."

Jason laughed a little. "I'll only be a few miles away."

"It won't be the same," Daphne said. "Here I can talk to you whenever. It'll be nice to have more space, though."

Jason laughed. "At least it's less crowded since most of the kids left."

Daphne smiled. "Yeah. I'm glad they're running that farm. It's been so lonely-looking since Cindy and Tom died. Plus it'll make a good rehab-type thing."

"I could've used one of those." Jason said. "We probably all could have."

Daphne almost said something about Sabrina, but at that moment, they entered the house, and found Basil glaring at them.

"What were you _thinking_?" he hissed at Daphne.

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "That Red was sick of her stalker, you would be in a better mood once he was gone, and the world would be happier with one less crazy person, along with several other things you don't care about, because they're not about your issue, Mr. Moody."

'What's that supposed to mean?" Basil asked hotly.

"Just that you're being a little self-centered at the moment," Daphne replied. "Poor Red's been worried about you and trying to figure out a way to get Blue gone, and not just gone, but _better_, because she doesn't want him to be crazy anymore, because she knows what it's like and doesn't want anybody else to have to go through that, and I found a way to give her what she wanted because you were too busy being selfish to help her, and then you get mad at me, even though Blue should be leaving soon, now that he's fixed!"

Basil looked extremely taken aback. Daphne almost never yelled. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said humbly. "I was being stupid."

"Exactly," Daphne said with satisfaction. "Now go apologize to Red."

Basil scurried off, leaving Jason staring at Daphne in the hallway.

"What was _that_?" he asked.

"That was me letting my anger out." Daphne said. "I don't do it unless it's important, so I have some to spare."

"Why don't you?" Jason asked.

Daphne grinned. "You remember how Sabrina was, right?"

"She got angry really easy." Jason said ruefully.

"Esactly." Daphne said, jumping up and down inside. He was getting over her! "So when she was _really_ angry, everyone was so used to it that it didn't really bother anyone. If you're not normally angry, when you _do_ get mad, then people pay attention. But honestly, I could scream at people as much as my sister does, I just find better ways to vent."

"You're really angry that often?" Jason asked, raising his eyebrows.

Daphne nodded, not saying anything more. They entered the living room together and joined the crowd around the couch. Blue was just beginning to stir.

"How is he?" Daphne asked.

Granny shook her head. "I don't know yet, he's been asleep. But he looked peaceful."

"That may just be the spell. I hit him pretty hard, and that one can people out pretty well," Daphne said.

"Uhrg..." Blue groaned. "Where am I?"

"How do you feel?" Red asked quickly.

Blue thought for a few seconds. "Different. I don't think I've ever felt like this before. It's... I feel clear. Like... this is going to sound corny, but like someone had a fog around me, and it got moved. And- oh gosh." He put his hands over his face, running them up through his hair.

"What's wrong?" Granny asked.

Mr. Canis put a hand on her arm. "He's remembering. Give him time. Some of the things he's done will scare him, now that he's sane."

"I-" Blue said. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry, Red. What have I done?"

Red smiled sadly. "It's all right. You were crazy. And it's not like I was much better."

"I've got to go," Blue said suddenly. "You two need me gone." He glanced at Basil, who had a barely contained glare, and Red, who watched him worriedly. "But first- what happened?"

"I knocked you out," Daphne spoke up. "Then we used the same tool that cured Red and Mr. Canis on you."

Blue blinked a few times, looking overwhelmed. "Wow. Thanks. That was awfully nice, considering how much of a nuisance I've been for you guys."

Daphne smiled. "It wasn't just for you. I sort of figured that when you weren't crazy you'd be more like this."

Blue laughed. "Thanks. Goodbye, now, I've got to go home and... sort things out. Then I've got a lot of people to apologize to."

Daphne nodded. "Goodbye."

Basil shook Blue's hand. "You're welcome here, as long as you don't make any moves at Red, Blue."

Blue smiled. "Thanks. That's generous of you."

The rest of the family said goodbye to Blue, and Jake offered to drive him home. Blue took him up, the two left, and after watching them for a while, Daphne glanced at Basil expectantly.

"What?" Basil asked.

Daphne continued to stare.

Basil sighed. "All right, I give. You were right, I was wrong."

Daphne smiled and nodded once. "Go enjoy your sane and stalker-free girlfriend. Goodnight, Basil."

"Goodnight." Basil smiled wryly.

The family exchanged partings and spread out towards their various bedrooms, but Daphne stayed behind until everyone else was gone, and it was just her and Jason in the living room.

Jason looked at her in surprise. "You still here?"

Daphne smiled. "Not for long. Goodnight, Jason."

Jason smiled, and then, on a spur of the moment decision, he kissed her on the cheek. "Goodnight, Daphne," he whispered.

Daphne left the room quickly, running for her own. As soon as she was inside, she shut the door and leaned against it, touching a hand to her cheek, her eyes wide.

"What was that?" she whispered.


	11. Can You Feel The Love Today

**AN~ Theme song this section: ****Soulmate by Natasha Bedingfield**

* * *

Syll walked into her house after a long day helping out with Dare and Chris' new house, a few weeks after Jason's first date. On her way through the door, she smacked into someone walking the opposite way. She looked up, and saw a boy that she'd never seen before. He was tall, had blue eyes, and, weirdly enough, blue hair.

"Who are you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The boy raised one right back. "Shouldn't you be apologizing for running into me before we get into that?"

Syll snorted. "You're assuming I have manners."

"Apologies are useful," the boy said mildly. "People have a better opinion of you if you use them."

"But if you say something too often, it doesn't mean anything anymore," Syll countered. "If I tell you I'm sorry every time I bump you, it doesn't mean as much if I apologize for breaking your leg, or accidentally destroying your English project."

"But if you never say it, you won't have any friends," the boy pointed out.

"If your friends only like you because you're polite, then they're not very good friends."

"But how are you going to make any if you're too rude to let them get to know you?"

"Like this," Syll said, grinning.

The boy opened his mouth, stopped, thought for a few seconds, then smiled ruefully. "Got me there."

"I win," Syll said. "Now will you tell me your name?"

"Blue," the boy said.

"Nice to meet you," Syll replied, not commenting on the convenience of a boy with blue hair being named 'Blue'. "I'm Syll. What is it with people and color names around here? Snow White, Red, Blue..." She _could_, however comment on all the people with color names. That wasn't rude, right?

Blue shrugged. "Might have something to do with that whole fairy tale thing..."

"It might," Syll said offhandedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a... friend of Red's," Blue said. "I'm visiting. What are _you_ doing here?"

"I live here," Syll replied.

"Then how come you weren't here the other night when I stopped by?" Blue asked.

"I was at the movies with my other friends, who also live here," Syll said.

"No need to get snippy," Blue protested.

"Who says I'm getting snippy?" Syll asked. "I was just pointing out that you don't know everything."

"We've already established that," Blue said in exasperation. "Hey, how old are you?"

"Thirteen," Syll said, walking towards the kitchen. "How old are you?"

"Four hundred thirty-seven," Blue said, following her.

"Oh," Syll said softly, taken aback. That was a pretty big age difference.

"But I'm physically around seventeen," Blue told her.

"That's a little more doable," Syll said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a jar of pickles. "Thank you."

That was the start of their friendship. Basil would have rather had Blue as far out of his life as possible, but under the circumstances, he decided to just be glad that at least Blue wasn't hanging out with Red all the time.

In the months that followed, not much happened. Daphne continued to pine after Jason, but managed to content herself- for the most part- with just being friends. Jason moved into his apartment, and kept going out with Goldi. Chris established a rehabilitation center for foster children with an adoption center, and had most of the dependable Everafters fostering troubled children withing several weeks of startup. Dare explored the town, proclaiming that there was enough adventure here to keep her satisfued for years. Granny Relda continued to make weird food and solve mysteries, with the help of Mr. Canis, and other family members when they were available. Henry and Veronica bickered constantly, mostly about returning to New York. The Ferryport Landing school was started up again, and all the orphans from the city attended.

Almost a year after they'd arrived in Feryport Landing, Jess and Alex started dating.

Blue and Syll, who had seen it coming for months, were discussing it one day when another topic came up.

Syll sighed. "I wish something like that would happen to me."

"Like what? Getting a cream pie thrown in your face?" Blue asked, referring to the complicated incident that had ended in Alex asking Jess out.

Syll snorted. "No, like... falling in love. Having someone love me back. Finding- and I know this sounds retarded- finding a soulmate."

Blue smiled. "It doesn't sound retarded. Everyone wants a soulmate. We all want to be loved. It's part of being human."

"I feel guilty, though," Syll said. "I have more people who care about me now than I ever did before. My mom skipped town when I was little, my dad was never around, and there wasn't really anybody at the orphanage who cared, except the other lonelies. And we were mostly too busy worrying about ourselves to care about other people. But now we aren't, and I have four of them that I'm still close to, Mr. Canis and Granny are like the grandparents I never knew, Henry, Veronica, Jason, Daphne, Dare and Chris are all like parents to me, Red and Basil are like siblings, and then there's you. I don't deserve all this love, and it just feels selfish to want more."

"Why?" Blue asked. "Do any of us really deserve love? I was crazy and a jerk when I was younger, I've only been sane for eight months. I never did anything to deserve anybody caring about me until a little while ago, and I have almost as many friends as you do."

"Almost?" Syll asked.

"Basil wishes I would just go hide in a hole and stay away from his girlfriend," Blue said offhandedly.

Syll laughed. "Then we both want the same thing, because as soon as you're taken, he won't have to worry anymore."

Blue grinned. "Sounds good. Maybe we can set each other up. Know anybody who's interested in me?"

Syll thought for a minute. "Hmm... Nope. Guess you're just not desireable enough. I can give you a makeover."

"Ha. Ha," Blue said. "Let's give you one, too, while we're at it."

Syll grinned. "Seriously, though, I don't have a lot of friends that are girls. It's pretty much just Jess. So unless you're going the other way now..."

"No," Blue said shortly.

They laughed for a while, then Syll said, "How about me? Know anyone interested?"

"Well..." Blue said, "There is one..."

"And who is he?" Syll prompted.

"Umm..." Blue rubbed his neck nervously, blushing. "...Me."

Syll stared. "Seriously?"

Blue nodded. "From the first time we met. I get it if you don't like me, but-"

Syll held up a hand. "Stop. Don't apologize, especially for telling me the truth. It's more that I did for you."

Blue just stared for a few seconds. "...Meaning...?"

"That I like you, too," Syll said. "And I told you I didn't because I figured that you're so much older than I am, and more mature, and more experienced with- well, everything, but relationships especially, and I'm this scarred little girl with a ton of issues and- well... it was stupid. You deserve better."

Blue blinked. "Are you... apologizing?"

Syll nodded. "Like I said, you deserve better."

"Than what?" Blue asked.

"Than me, than lies..." Syll trailed off. "Forgive me?"

Blue nodded. "So... will you go out with me, then?"

Syll laughed. "I told you I liked you, didn't I?"

Blue grinned. "That's a relief."

He grabbed her hand, and they walked out side together with matching grins on their faces.

Daphne and Jason poked their heads into the room at the same time from different doors, looking first at the retreating teenagers, then at each other. They both laughed.

"You too, huh?" Jason asked.

Daphne nodded. "We really shouldn't eavesdrop. It's rude."

"But how else would we know if we needed to interfere?" Jason asked.

"Thank you," Daphne said. "That's my excue now. I wonder if they'll figure out that I was the one who threw the pie at Jess?"

"Probably not," Jason said. "Wait. That was you?"

Daphne nodded. "Those two are perfect for each other, though."

"Who? Syll and Blue?" Jason asked.

"Yup," Daphne said. "They hit off like that, and they get along great."

"And they understand each other," Jason added. "Neither of them had great families."

"This should make Basil happy," Daphne said wryly. "Should we tell him, or should we let the happy coulple do the honors?"

"Let them. If we tell, they'll know we were listening," Jason said.

"True," Daphne said. She watched her parents cross the yard holding hands through the window, then sighed. "Seems like love's in the air at the moment."

"And neither of us interfered with it much," Jason said in wonder. "Maybe now should be Valentine's Day."

"Please don't mention that," Daphne said, sitting on the love seat.

"Why not?" Jason asked.

"My last boyfriend broke up with me on Valentine's Day. You could tell he planned it, too. I'm still kind of messed up about it."

"Oh," Jason said. "I'm sorry."

"Dont be," Daphne said. "He was a jerk. _Sabrina_ knew he was, and she warned me. Told me she knew one of her own kind when she saw them. I laughed it off. I should have listened to her. She's right a lot more often than I give her credit for."

Jason sat down next to her. "That's too bad. He was seriously your last boyfriend?"

Daphne nodded. "You sound surprised. Why?"

Jason shrugged. "Because that was over a year ago, and you're a really pretty girl. I'd've thought you'd have found someone else by now."

"I did," Daphne said. "But he's taken."

"Hm," Jason said. "Well, he's stupid, then."

Daphne snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Inside, she was vaguely amused that he'd called himself stupid. "On aonther note, how are you and Goldi doing?"

Jason shrugged. "All right."

"You don't sound too sure," Daphne said, raising her eyebrows.

"She's a bit controlling," Jason said. "It's starting to get on my nerves."

"I warned you," Daphne said in a singsong tone. "Other than that, though?"

"Pretty good," Jason said. "I'm not sure she's the one for me, though. But back to you."

"What _about_ me?" Daphne asked.

"You want me to set you up with someone?" Jason offered. "A blind date sort of thing?"

Daphne shook her head. "I dunno..."

"Come on," Jason wheedled. "I've got friends here, and I want to help you out."

"Well..." Daphne said.

"Please?" Jason asked. "You got me out from being stuck on Sabrina. Maybe if you see someone else you'll be interested. At the very least it might make whoever you like realize that he likes you by kicking in that testosterone and making him jealous."

Daphne laughed. "Fine. Whatever. I give up. Arrange me a date."

Jason smiled and stood up. "Good."

* * *

**AN~ Theme song this section: I Hate Everything About You Three Days Grace **

* * *

Outside the Grimm house a few minutes before Daphne and Jason had their conversation, Veronica and Henry were arguing again.

"I will _not_ go back to New York with you!" Veronica snapped.

"But it's not safe here!" Henry protested.

"The Scarlet Hand's been defeated for over a decade, Henry!" Veronica pointed out. "We've _been here _for that long! We're still safe!"

"There's still Everafters everywhere, and they can't be trusted!"

Veronica smiled without humor. "Let's tell the rest of the family that, shall we? I'm sure your mother and Basil will take that well, not to mention Sabrina!"

"Sabrina used to think the same way I do!" Henry said.

"And she realized how wrong she was!" Veronica said. "Everafters are just people, the same as you or me!"

"They are not!"

"All right, they're immortal people, some of whom have special powers, but other than that, they're normal, and they deserve to be looked at wth an open mind!"

"I looked at them with an open mind, and look where that got me!" Henry yelled. "Under a spell and missing two years of my daughter's lives!"

"I can't believe you, Henry!" Veronica shouted. "That's the same as if an Everafter said that all humans are stupid, close-minded idiots, just because you don't want to give them a chance!"

"Then maybe Everafters and I should just go our separate ways!" Henry said with conviction. "And since they can't leave, that means I'll have to!"

"You'll never get away from them." Veronica said, voice dropping. "Not all of them live here. There's a ton in the city. You might as well just give up."

Henry sighed. "I might," he said mildly, the fire leaving his voice.

Veronica's head snapped up and she stared at him. "What?"

"I've been trying to get you to move back for fifteen years. It hasn't worked, and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of fighting you. So I think I'll try and see it your way for a change."

Veronica smiled. "Do you see the pattern here?"

"What?" Henry asked.

"We spent fifteen years seeing it your way, and fifteen years arguing. Maybe we'll spend the next fifteen seeing it my way, and after that maybe we'll both have learned to compromise."

Henry laughed ruefully. "Assuming we live that long."

Veronica grinned. "We will. I have a question, though."

Henry wrapped his hand in hers. "What's that?"

"You never left, for all that time," she pointed out. "Why did you stay?"

"Because I married you for better of for worse, and I couldn't leave you here, or the girls, and then Basil-"

Veronica smiled. "That's sweet. You haven't been that sweet since we started arguing."

"I've been busy trying to convince you I was right."

"So have I," Veronica said. "Maybe we should have both spent a little more time listening and less talking. To the girls, too."

Henry smiled. "Maybe we can skip the do things your way years and go straight to the compromise."

Veronica laughed fiercely. "Not a chance, buddy."

"Nuts," Henry muttered. "I was hoping you'd fall for my sweetness."

"Is _that _why you did that?" Veronica asked. "That was low!"

"It wasn't!" Henry protested. "I was just trying to get all I could out of something I did to be nice!"

"You're a self-centered jerk." Veronica smiled. "I don't know why I ever married you."

"It's because I let you stay here for fifteen years, and we both love each other very much," Henry reminded her, kissing her.

"_Mmm,_" Veronica agreed.

They didn't talk much for a while after that.


	12. P S I Love You

**AN~ Theme song this section: ****Crush by David Archuleta, then Let Me Be Myself by Three Doors Down.**

* * *

The months continued to pass, and not much changed, other than Jason and Goldie's relationship. Goldie was becoming steadily more controlling, and Jason was almost fed up, and had a mind to tell her so... sometimes. Other times he didn't want to upset the status quo.

The only other new thing that happened was that the orphans all seemed to be pairing up. Only two of them were still single, Cody and Rob. Cody said he was waiting for the right someone to come along, and Rob was just too wrapped up in really _living_ for the first time to notice girls. But he did notice every time Cody stared at Goldi, and he teased him about it mercilessly.

Cody put up with it surprisingly well, just saying that he was pretty sure that Goldi would be single again very soon.

It turned out he was right.

Things came to a head with Jason and Goldi almost a year after they had gotten together, when Goldi was trying to tell Jason what to wear to the upcoming Valentine's Day fundraising dance at Chris's center.

"Goldi," Jason said shortly, putting down the collection of hangers Goldi had just foisted on him.

Goldi stopped talking abruptly, hearing a tone in his voice that she'd never heard before. "Yes?"

"Just shut up for a minute, would you?"

"Jason!" Goldi gasped. "I've never heard you tell me that in all the time we've been together! That was rude!"

"I know," Jason said. "I was hoping it would get your attention, and you would listen to me for once."

Goldi opened her mouth, realized what Jason was saying, and snapped it shut again without saying anything.

"Exactly," Jason said with satisfaction. "You've been controlling this relationship for months. It shouldn't be like that. I understand that you have OCD, and you feel the need to have a certain amount of control, but you can't tell me how to do _everything_. I have a brain, too, and I'm perfectly capable of doing things like picking out my own clothes, for example. This needs to stop. Now."

Goldi sighed. "Jason, are you sure you aren't overreacting? I mean, I can be a bit- assertive, but I'm not that bad!"

"Yes you are," Jason said. "And if you don't at least make an effort to change, starting _today_, then it's over."

Goldi glared at him. "I think maybe _you_ need to change! Either take me the way I am, or leave!"

"All right then," Jason said. "Get out of my house."

Goldi gaped at him. "What?"

"You heard me," Jason said. "Get out. Now. It's over."

Goldi stormed out of the house, muttering to herself the whole way. Jason watched her go, waiting until her car was out of sight to drop his glare and sigh, the fight dropping out of him as fast as it had risen. What had he done? He'd just screwed up his first relationship ever that had lasted longer than a month. With another sigh, he picked up his cell phone and pressed one.

A few mile's away, Daphne phone began to ring.

"Hi Jason, what's up?" Daphne said, answering it.

"I just broke up with Goldi. Can you come over? I need someone to talk to."

"Sure," Daphne said, blinking at the speed of his blurted words. "I'll be there in five minutes." She hung up and headed for her car.

When Daphne showed up at Jason's house fifteen minutes later, he went out to meet her, smiling tightly.

"Hey," he said.

She grinned back at him. "Hi."

He led her inside, and she followed behind him, trying hard not to skip her way into the house.

"What's gotten into you?" Jason asked, shaking his head. "You're even happier than you usually are."

Daphne shrugged, still smiling. "It's a wonderful day. I solved a case, the sun's shining, Sabrina's coming home in a few months, my jerk of an ex just got dumped by the girl he broke up with me for, I think he's going to jail, _and_ I got to punch him in the face, all in one morning."

"That does sound like a good day," Jason said dryly. "I take it he was the culprit?"

Daphne nodded, sitting down and trying to sober herself up. "But I'm here to talk about you. What happened?"

Jason shrugged, joining her on the couch. "She was trying to tell me how to dress, and... I guess it was the last straw. I told her change or get out, she said she didn't need to change, and I kicked her out."

"I passed her on the way here," Daphne said. "Cody was comforting her. So if you're feeling guilty, don't be. They'll be together within a year."

Jason stared at her for a minute. "But he's so much younger than she is!"

Daphne shrugged. "She's an Everafter. What's age to her?"

Jason laughed a little. "I guess you're right."

"So do you need comfort, or someone to say you deserve better?" Daphne asked.

"Just someone to talk to," Jason said. "I mean, I knew we were never going to be together forever, and I think she knew it, too, but we kind of used each other, you know? We were helping each other move on, and then there was some security in having someone else to turn to."

Daphne smiled a little sadly. "So you're not going to pine after her for ages like you did my sister?"

"No," Jason said emphatically.

"Oh, that reminds me," Daphne said, snapping her fingers and sitting up straighter. "Remember a few months ago when you said that you'd set me up with someone?"

"Yeah..." Jason said.

"Well, you never did that," Daphne said, mentally slapping herself. Did she _want_ to be unhappy? Apparently.

"I know," Jason said. "That was about when Goldie decided she didn't want me hanging out with my friends, and I had to sneak out to see them. Sorry, but I was kind of busy just relaxing."

"It's all right." Daphne said. Then she did a double take. "Wait. She was keeping you from seeing your friends? Why on earth did you wait this long to break up with her?"

Jason shrugged. "I was practicing my ability to deal."

Daphne shook her head in exasperation. "You're ridiculous. But she can't do that to you anymore, so I guess it's all right. I'm just glad you finally realized how bad she was for you."

"What about Cody? You don't seem too worried about him." Jason pointed out.

Daphne shrugged. "He's very stubborn. They'll be good for each other. And that leaves one single person in the whole town that I care about... besides you."

"Poor Rob," Jason said.

Daphne smiled a little. "I don't think her cares. I asked him a while ago, and he told me he was catching up on all the childhood he missed in the orphanage, and was pretty sure that girls had cooties. I think he's fine."

Jason grinned. "Now if your sister would just come home, pretty much all of us would have our happy ending all set up."

"Except us," Daphne said. "And if your blind date works out, it'll just be you."

Jason sighed. "I can deal. There has to be _someone_ out there for me."

Daphne looked sidelong at him. "Maybe you're just not looking hard enough."

She left after that, leaving Jason puzzling over her last sentence.

* * *

**AN~ Theme song this section: ****When I Grow Up by The Pussy Cat Dolls **

* * *

Three weeks after their confusing conversation, Daphne was finally going on her blind date. Jason should have been happy that he was finally keeping his promise to her, but for some reason, he wasn't.

In fact, when he saw Daphne with Frank, who had been one of his closest friends for over a year, he was downright angry. He wanted to punch something.

He watched the two of them drive off, glaring at the receding car, then sat down on the front porch with a sigh.

After a few minutes, Red joined him, leaning against the porch railing and looking out at the snow. "A little cold to be out, isn't it?"

Jason shrugged. He hadn't noticed the cold, maybe because he was burning inside.

"Why haven't you gone in?" Red asked.

Jason shrugged again. "Didn't feel like it, I guess."

They were silent for a while, then Red spoke up again. "Daphne on her date?"

Jason nodded.

"Who's she out with?"

"Frank," Jason said shortly.

"Frank," Red repeated. "I've met him, right?" She answered her own question before Jason could speak up. "Yeah, he's a nice guy. He and Daphne should get along well."

Jason grunted irritably.

"But you don't want them to, do you?" Red asked conversationally.

Jason grunted again.

"Well?" Red asked, looking at Jason sharply.

"No," Jason replied, not looking at her.

"Why not?" Red asked.

"Because... because... I don't know!" Jason said exasperatedly. "I just don't, all right? And I shouldn't be upset, because I set them up, and I want Daphne to be happy, but..."

Red smiled a little. "Daphne felt the same way when you and Goldi got together. She waited for you for months. I'm surprised. Normally she moves on a lot faster than that. But she stuck with you. I just hope you're not too late."

Jason grunted. Then his eyes flashed up to Red. "Wait. What do you mean, 'too late'?"

"Too late to tell Daphne how you feel about her, of course." Red said. "You _are_ going to tell her how you feel when she gets back, aren't you?"

"Uhh..." Jason said. "I wasn't aware that I was feeling anything other than friendship."

Red laughed. "Please. You're pitching a hissy fit because she went on one date, the two of you are pretty much best friends, and you just told me you want her to be happy. You'd think _you_ were the teenager, not me. It's obvious you love her. Or at least like her. A lot."

"Huh," Jason said, mulling this over in his head. "I guess you're right."

Red smiled wryly. "You and Daphne, both the same. You understand other people's feelings perfectly, but have no idea what to do with yourselves."

Jason smiled a little. Then he sobered, remembering something else Red had said. "Do you really think I might be too late?"

Red shrugged. "You _did_ take over a year to figure out that you two were meant for each other. Sabrina was sure you'd be together six months ago."

"She _what_?" Jason asked incredulously.

"She set you two up," Red said. "She told me so."

"Since when does _Sabrina_ set people up?" Jason asked.

Red giggled. "Since a year and a half ago. Weird, right?" She lost the smile. "I don't really think you are too late, but if she likes this Frank character..."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon," Jason said, looking at the driveway. "She's coming back now." He hadn't realized they'd been talking for so long.

The two watched as Daphne got out of the car, waving and smiling at Frank as he drove away, their eyes following her as she walked up to the porch.

"Hey," Red said brightly. "How was your date?"

Daphne shrugged. "All right. Frank and I've met before. We had fun, saw a nice movie, but I don't think there'll be a follow-up. We'll stay just friends."

Red gave Jason a smile, then patted Daphne on the shoulder. "Well, I'll see you later, Basil wants me to teach him how to cook."

Daphne laughed. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Red smiled, opening the door into the house. "Glad you had a nice time."

"Thanks," Daphne called after Red as the door banged shut behind her.

"So..." Jason said awkwardly. "Did you have a good time? Did I pick a good guy? Or do you never want me to find you a blind date again?"

"Yes, yes, and yes," Daphne said.

Jason blinked. "...What?"

"Yes, I had a good time, yes, he's a very nice boy, and yes, I never want you to pick me a blind date again, but probably not for the reason you think."

"What is the reason, then?" Jason asked.

Daphne shrugged. "I told you, I'm interested in someone else, and this date showed me that I'm not going to move on if I go out with someone else."

"Unlike me," Jason said softly.

"I didn't mean that!" Daphne said quickly. "It's just..."

"I get it," Jason smiled. "I needed to move on. You don't."

"How do you know?" Daphne asked.

"Because I found out who you like," Jason said, "And I can assure you that he likes you back."

Daphne did a double take. "Wait- what? Who told you? And really?"

"Red told me. She pretty much beat it into my thick skull that I feel the same way about you. It was kind of funny."

Daphne stared at him, a smile creeping slowly up her face. "You mean it?"

Jason nodded. Daphne threw her arms around him, her grin threatening to split her face. Jason staggered back a little, wrapping his own arms around her. They stayed that way for a long time, just holding each other.

After a while, Syll peeked out the door. "Guys?" she asked. "While it's great you're finally together and all, it's getting kind of late, and Red sent me in to tell you that Basil wants you to taste test their cookies."

Daphne and Jason smiled at each other, then walked into the house together, holding hands.

* * *

**AN~ Theme song _this_ section: Train Wreck by Demi Lovato.**

* * *

Sabrina and Puck were on their way home at last. After two long years of being away, they and their newly purchased car were only a few miles away from Ferryport Landing.

Sabrina sighed happily. "It'll be nice to be back."

Puck glanced over at her, then back at the road. "You miss it?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it was an amazing trip, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but- Ferryport Landing is where I belong."

Puck grinned. "Funny, last time I checked, you wanted out."

Sabrina smiled. "I've been fighting who I am for nineteen years, I think it's about time I give up. This trip helped me see that."

"You love being a detective. You know you do," Puck said.

"Aside from the whole mortal peril thing, yeah, it's great," Sabrina said. "Besides, my whole family and all of my friends are in that town."

Puck shook his head. "I can't believe it took you this long to realize this was where you belonged."

Sabrina shrugged. "I'm a very stubborn person."

"You're also a crazy, weird, annoying, mess," Puck said.

"Same to you," Sabrina said mildly. "And I mean that in the nicest way possible."

Puck laughed. "Who says opposites attract?"

Sabrina looked out the window, then grabbed Puck's arm excitedly. "We're almost home!"

"Hey, do they _know_ we bought a car?" Puck asked.

"I thought you told them!" Sabrina said, laughing.

Puck snickered. "Well, I guess it'll be nice to have more than one car."

"Remember the jalopy?" Sabrina asked.

"The one we killed?" Puck replied reminiscently.

Sabrina smirked. "That was the best thing we ever did. It was a public service, an awesome prank, a great sneak..."

"And Daphne got the car that she wanted," Puck added. "Which was good because I had no money to get her a present."

Sabrina laughed. "Neither did I. Can you believe that my dad thought it was a punishment for us that Daphne got the car and neither of us did?"

Puck snickered. "No. That was a good acting job that we both did, too. Not that I mind having a car now. It's good for rainy days and long trips."

Sabrina started to reply, but she changed the subject abruptly when she saw the house. "We're home!" she screeched.

"Ow," Puck complained. "I know you missed the place, but can you try and contain yourself until we're someplace that you won't burst my eardrum?"

"Sorry," Sabrina replied sheepishly. "But I'm just so excited!"

"So am I," Puck grinned. "I'm just being quieter about it than you are."

He parked the car, and followed after Sabrina, who was rapidly scrambling up the walkway towards her waiting family. Daphne met her halfway, followed by a slightly less exuberant rest of the family, all of whom plugged their ears as Sabrina and Daphne screamed in excitement.

"I missed you so much!" they said at the same time.

A long round of hugs and greetings were exchanged before Veronica shooed everybody away.

"Go on!" she said to Basil, who refused to move, "They're both exhausted, and you'll see them for the rest of your life! You can pepper them with questions about Pakistan tonight."

"Tonight?" Sabrina asked blearily.

"Yeah, at the welcome home party," Basil said.

"Oh boy," Puck muttered. "If there's going to be a party, I definitely need a nap."

Sabrina nodded, and the two headed off for their bedroom. Unfortunately, they didn't get much rest at first, because Basil kept coming in, claiming he'd left something behind. Red finally had to come distract him so that Sabrina and Puck didn't explode.

After their nap, they went to dinner, and the party. All the Everafters wanted to hear about the wonders of the outside world, the orphans were just as excited about other countries, and the Grimms themselves mostly just wanted to catch up with their family.

Finally, after the party was over, Sabrina and Daphne were in the kitchen, washing a huge pile of dishes.

Sabrina shook her head. "You'd think that using recyclable stuff would mean less dishes!"

Daphne smiled wryly. "But Granny had to cook, too, and you can't cook with a paper plate."

Sabrina nodded. "Unless you've got a microwave. Do we even own a microwave?"

"Yeah," Daphne said. "Granny broke down last year."

"So how've you been?" Sabrina asked after a brief pause, thinking how awkward this was. She'd never been this uncomfortable with Daphne before.

"I'm good, how are you?" Daphne asked formally.

"Exhausted," Sabrina replied. "And how's Jason?"

"Amazing, as usual," Daphne said. "I still can't believe you set us up! You don't set people up, that's _my_ job!"

Sabrina laughed. "But you needed someone to set you up. You were doing an awful job of that for yourself. All those guys you went out with were awful jerks."

Daphne smiled a little. "They were, weren't they? But nobody would tell me that but you. I missed having someone who would talk straight to me."

Sabrina smiled back. "Well don't worry, I'm not leaving again anytime soon. I'm finally home."


End file.
